The Greatest Shame a Wizard Could Suffer
by AgiVega
Summary: Sequel to The Greatest Scandal in Hogwarts History. Harry has a squib for a son. As judge of the Triwizard Tournament at Durmstrang he manages to get over the shock, but doesn't know that another blow unprecedented in wizarding history is awaiting him.
1. Three Men and a Baby

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A/N: Hello, everyone, I'm back after two months (not three as I had planned!!!) with the sequel you were waiting for! …or at least I suppose you were waiting for it – seeing all those reviews begging me to start posting this story… It felt really good to get so many reviews, even months after having uploaded the final chapter of The greatest scandal of Hogwarts history. (in the future I'll be referring to it as TGSoHH.)

I must tell you that you placed an enormous weight on my shoulders by your enthusiasm for TGSoHH. Yes, a really huge weight, because I had to come up to the standard of that – write something just as good or better - and I'm not sure whether I succeeded or not. That is something you will have to tell me. (this means: review, review, review! :)

I also need to tell you that this story is a little bit darker than the first one, and the emphasis will be more on emotions than on action (though I think it won't be too mushy – I hate mushy stuff!) In this fic Harry won't be the wand-waver all-saver type - there will be more depth to his character (and I hope I haven't screwed it up!:) Some scenes might be somewhere between PG-13 and R, but they will never actually reach R rating (no explicit sex or rudeness, I promise!) This story is going to be a bit longer than the first one (some of you complained that 34 chapters weren't enough! :)

I was quite in a dilemma what genre to give the fic - eventually I chose Romance/Suspense, but the fic is also going to contain almost all genres: humour, drama, angst, adventure, fantasy, mystery, etc. (more drama and angst than in TGSoHH.)

Don't forget that I'm still Hungarian (having a Horntail dragon tied up in the back garden), so I might make grammatical and spelling mistakes.

To those who haven't read my first fic but would like to read this one: I strongly advise you to read _The greatest scandal of Hogwarts history_, because I will be referring to things that happened in there.

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To my faithful readers – a bit of reminder:

Voldemort died when Ginny sacrificed herself for Harry at Stonehenge. Harry brought her back with the Green Flame Torch that was in the Khufu pyramid in Egypt. That torch belonged to Apophys, the serpent god.

At the end of TGSoHH Ginny told Harry that she was pregnant with a second child. Fleur was also expecting a baby from Bill. Dudley married Millicent Bulstrode and Petunia and Vernon had a baby boy called David, who got listed in the Hogwarts Parchment Book.

Neville got his parents back (they aren't insane anymore) and he's become a great Quidditch-player, playing seeker for the Wimbourne Wasps.

Lucius Malfoy had been mad for a while (because Voldemort cast the Cruciatus on him), but now he's all right again.

Hermione became an Arithmancy teacher at Hogwarts and Ron opened a broomstick shop at Hogsmeade after the Weasleys had become wealthy, thanks to a niffler who found a huge crate of gold at the Burrow.

Harry and Malfoy kind of reconciled and they had to attend Hogwarts for one more year because neither of them spent their whole seventh year at the school. Harry spent his last year in Ginny's class. (During the school year Molly and Arthur took care of H and G's daughter, Lily.)

Now Harry and Ginny have graduated and they both live in Sirius' house, together with Lily.

Well, I guess that's all, I hope you remember more than just this :)

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Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling is the 'mother' of the Harry Potter characters. I'm only babysitting them for a while.

I'd like to say thanks to my wonderful mother who volunteered to beta this story and gave me lots of advice.

And now, on to the first chapter – have fun and don't forget to review!

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THE GREATEST SHAME A WIZARD COULD SUFFER

written by AgiVega

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Chapter 1

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Three Men and a Baby

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21st July 1999

"Aaaaaaaand Longbottom has the snitch!" the commentator's voice came through the magical microphone.

The Whimbourne Wasps had won the match – their fourth match with Neville as their seeker.

As soon as the young man managed to get away from his whooping fans, another young man with jet-black hair walked up to him.

"Nice flying up there, Neville."

"Thanks, Harry." 

"I already fear having to play against you." Harry smiled.

"You are exaggerating." Neville grinned. "I wouldn't have been able to perform this well if the weather hadn't been so favouring."

"The weather?" Harry stifled a laugh. "Yes, it's really nice and clear… though Professor Trelawney predicted that there would be a hail today…"

"Good ol' Trelawney…" Neville smirked. "I never thought she'd apply for _Witch Weekly_'s part-time meteorologist job. There she cannot harm anyone or anything – she's just another meteorologist who never manages to foretell the actual weather. I was truly surprised to hear that she applied for the job. I guess she was bored to death during the summer holiday…"

"Yeah… having no one to predict their deaths to..." Harry added. "Anyone could be better a seer than her."

"Even me?" Neville asked sheepishly. "Um, when are you starting at Puddlemere United, by the way?"

"Next summer. I have lots to do before starting a career as a professional Quidditch player."

"Lots of things, huh?"

"Yeah… first of all: my family."

Neville nodded with a wistful smile. Deep in his heart he still felt something for Ginny Weasley - correction, for Ginny Potter – but he was aware that she only could be happy with Harry. And Neville, being Neville, wished them all the happiness of the world.

"When is the youngest Potter due?" he asked.

"In about a month." Harry beamed at him. "Can you believe it, Neville? In ten days I'm going to be 19, and soon I'll be father of two!"

"Well, no one can blame you of not being fast enough…" young Longbottom remarked with a hint of sarcasm. "Your son… um, he was also conceived before the wedding, wasn't he?"

Harry's lips tucked in a smirk. "Is it so obvious?"

"Herbology might have been the only subject I was good at, but I can add up and subtract… though I wouldn't suggest you ask me anything about logarithm…" he put the snitch back into the crate that already contained the Quaffle and the two bludgers. "So, are you going to play with Oliver Wood again?"

"It seems so." Harry nodded. "Ron was a bit disappointed when I rejected Chudley Cannon's job offer, though."

"Ah, Ron." Neville nodded. "Living happily with his bossy little wife?"

"Yeah, fortunately. They are constantly arguing, but you know them… they couldn't even exist without arguing."

"Is Ron's shop running well?"

"Very much so. Half of Great Britain's wizarding population buys or has its brooms repaired at Ron's. Hermione says he is overworking, and she might be right. I was happy when she managed to talk him into going on holiday for a week… but guess what he is doing during his holiday?"

"No idea." Neville shook his head.

"Trimming the hedges at Black Manor."

"What?" Longbottom's eyes widened. "Gardening?"

"Uh-huh. Gardening, and going home every day like he had been wallowing in mud… at least Hermione can tell him over and over that '_you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?'"_

"Huh?" blinked Neville, who hadn't been in their compartment on the Hogwarts Express when Hermione criticised Ron's looks for the first time. Now it seemed like ages ago… like it had happened a lifetime earlier… 

Eight years had passed since Harry Potter had got to know that he was a wizard. Eight years of adventures, dangers, sorrows, laughs and loves followed… and now he was a full-fledged wizard. A wizard, whose 19 years of life had made him much wiser than other people were at 70. 

After the loss of his parents, after having grown up as an orphan, after having been pursued by Lord Voldemort for eighteen years, Harry Potter's life seemed to have come to a point of… peace. Peace?

Sure, he had friends, the job of his dreams, thousands of admirers and most important of all: he had a wife and daughter to care for. 

Life seemed to be perfect. Too perfect.

With a loud pop Ron apparated next to them, wearing a pair of gardener's trousers and a woven hat, holding a shovel in one hand. "Harry!" the yelled. "The baby's coming!"

"What? He isn't due until the middle of August!"

"Come and tell him!" Ron said in a sardonic tone, madly swinging the shovel.

"Hey, point that thing somewhere else, I'm going to need both my eyes to see the snitch!" Neville said. 

"Sorry." Ron wiped his left hand on his trousers, turning to Harry. "Care to come or shall we stay here and chat?"

"Oh, of course, um, Neville, gotta go, bye!" Harry replied hastily and they both disapparated.

Neville heaved a sigh and returned to the changing room.

* * * * *

As Ron and Harry apparated at the hall of Black Manor (a huge and elegant Victorian building that had been in the possession of the family Black since the end of the nineteenth century), Sirius ran down the stairs to meet them – with a rather desperate expression.

"At last you've arrived! C'mon!" he grabbed the sleeve of Harry's robes and started dragging him upstairs, not stopping talking for a single second. "I though you'd got lost again, Ron was looking for you for such a long time, but thanks God, you're here, you are the father, after all, you help her with the delivery…"

"WHAT???" Harry's eyes widened. "Help – her – with – the – _what_?"

"The delivery, Harry, the delivery!" Sirius said.

"Why me? Why not take her to St. Mungo?"

"Because there's no time for it! Everything started so suddenly and there's really no time to take her to the hospital. We cannot make her sit on a broom now, can we? And you know that apparating is extremely dangerous for pregnant women – they can splinch the child! Portkeys aren't preferable in her condition, either."

"I know, I know, but… where's Hermione? She could help Ginny!"

"She got an urgent owl from Russia and had to go. She won't come back till tomorrow, and the baby isn't likely to wait for her to return!"

"Then… Mrs. Weasley? I… I could go to her and ask her to come, and…"

"No, she can't. Bill and Fleur's child has been taken ill and she is with her at St. Mungo, right Ron?"

"Yeah…" Ron nodded. "She sent an owl in the morning saying that something was very wrong with Yvette. Mum is at the hospital with her, she couldn't even notify Bill and Fleur, who are… ah, who the hell knows where they are now? France, maybe, or Peru?"

"That leaves Dinky." Harry said. "She's a female elf, she could…" he didn't finish the sentence when seeing both Ron and Sirius madly shaking their heads. "What happened to her, too?" he groaned.

"Left for Hogwarts two hours ago. Visiting Dobby. They're cousins, you know." Ron shrugged.

"Oh, no…" Harry sighed. "That leaves…"

"The three of us." Sirius nodded nervously. "At least Ron's an expert, aren't you, Ron?"

"Ron?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

"ME?" Ron blinked.

"Yeah, you." Sirius said. "You said you were there when Lily was born."

"That's true, but… I wasn't actually _looking_, you know… I was just encouraging Ginny…"

"Then do the same now, and Harry'll do the rest." Sirius concluded, opening a door and shoving Harry into the room.

"At last you deign to put in an appearance!" a furious Mrs. Potter yelled at Harry who tripped over the curb and fell facedown onto the floor. 

"Um, Ginny, dear?" Harry, on all fours, said, lifting his head to meet her glance. "You all right?"

"Oh, sure, all right, never felt better!" Ginny spat, leaning to the window-frame, squeezing her eyes shut as a contraction hit her.

"Oh, my, can… can I help somehow?" Harry approached her.

"If you can speed up time and get this over with… or just magic the baby out of me…" she replied, letting him pull her into his arms and carry her over to the bed.

"Sorry, darling… even a wizard has his limits." Harry tried to smile at her, but only managed a smirk.

"Don't you grin like that, Harry Potter! You got me into this condition… for the second time!" she leaned back into the pillows. "I don't even understand why I let you do it again… Ouch!"

"Heavens, aren't the pains coming a bit too frequently, sweetheart?" Harry frowned.

"A bit too frequently, huh? They come in every minute now! Your son seems to be a bit impatient."

"He's your son, too." Harry smiled.

"Like I wouldn't remember…" she gritted her teeth in pain.

"Ron! Sirius!" Harry hopped up and ran to the door. "What the hell are you doing out there, when human lives are at stake in here?"

"Human lives?" Ron blanched. "You don't want to tell that Ginny's in peril again?"

"Not her – me! She is close to killing me!" Harry shouted with such a terror on his face that Sirius had to laugh.

"You are laughing at me???" Harry gaped.

"No, not really…" Sirius tried to hide his smile.

"Good. Then get hot water, and towels, and… what the heck is used in the delivery wards?" the young father-to-be was about to freak out.

"Dunno. Never been a midwife." Ron said.

"Then go and clean yourself, 'cause I won't let you near my wife in this big heap of dirt!" Harry yelled and slammed the door shut at his friend and godfather's face.

"A bit nervous, isn't he?" Ron grimaced. "I don't even want to imagine how he would have behaved, had he been there when Lily was born. I think he'd have driven Madame Pomfrey crazy."

"Uh, yeah, could be." Black nodded. "I guess I'll get that water before he puts a curse on me…"

"Okay, and I'll…" Ron began, but couldn't finish when they heard a child cry. "Lily's awake! I'll go and get her, you just go and… oh, bloody hell… do whatever you want!" and he ran off towards Lily Potter's room.

"It's okay, Ginny… it's okay…" Harry cast a cooling charm on his profusely sweating wife.

"No, it's NOT okay!" she moaned. "Rub… rub my back, Harry, it'll help."

He started massaging her with such fervour that he also started sweating. "Now I guess I also could do with a cooling charm." he grinned.

"Harry… change my night-gown, it's all soaked." she breathed, wiping her forehead. He ran to the wardrobe.

"Night-gown, night-gown… where's a bloody night-gown?" he started flinging things out of the wardrobe. "Panties, socks, a bra, a… I don't know what this is, a shirt, oh, here it is!" he hurried back to his wife and helped her out of her clothes, then helped her into the dry night-dress. "Whew, giving birth is more tiring than I thought!" he wheezed, dropping himself down on a chair.

"Water! I need water! I'm dying of thirst!" Ginny yelled.

Harry jumped up, ran into the adjacent bathroom, then hurried back to her with a glass of water.

"Huh… Lily's calmed down at last." Ron entered. "I fed her and lulled her into sleep, now she won't…" he couldn't finish the sentence, because the little girl started crying again. "Oh, no! What's the matter with her again?"

"Maybe…" Ginny gasped for breath, "… you forgot to change her diaper. Go and do it!"

Ron made a wry face and left.

"The cooling charms aren't enough, Harry." she said after a couple of minutes. "I need a wet pack on my forehead!"

"Aye, aye, captain!" Harry dragged himself to his feet and left for the bathroom again.

When he returned with the wet towel, he saw Ginny's face contort in pain. 

"Oh, Harry, I guess…" she breathed, "…oh-oh… he's most definitely _coming_…"

"What?" Harry jumped to her, having no idea what to do. There was blood everywhere… He barely heard the door creak and Ron come in. "Just in time, Ron… I guess I'll faint." he said and blacked out.

"HARRY!" Ginny screamed and tried to sit up, but simply couldn't.

"Don't care for him, he's all right!" Ron hurried up to her. "Oh, my gosh! Very close, aren't we?"

"Seems so… help, Ron!" his sister whimpered.

"But I have no idea how…" he began, only to be silenced by Ginny clamping her hand on his mouth.

"Just do it!" she growled.

"Oooooooh… what happened?" Harry sat up slowly, rubbing his head.

"Nothing yet, but it will, soon." Ron commented, seeing that his friend was close to fainting again. "Oh, come on, Harry, be a man!"

"I'll try. Oh, sod off, Abu!" Harry yelled at the monkey who happened to jump through the open window. 

Abu gave him an infuriated series of squeals and disappeared the way he had come.

"Blimey, I've hurt his feelings." Harry pouted.

"For heaven's sake, man!" Ron howled, "Care for Ginny now!"

"Oh." Harry nodded and stumbled to Ginny. "What do I do?"

"Hold her hand." Ron grunted. "That's all you can do, as it seems."

"All right." Harry reached out for his wife's right hand. "Just squeeze it, if you want to."

She did. Harry thought at least two of his fingers had broken. "Sorry."

"Never mind… just squeeze." he said.

"And push." Ron added.

She did both.

Sirius was about to enter the room with a basin full of steaming water when he heard a baby's cry. It wasn't Lily this time.

"Where have you been with that water?" Ron demanded, while pointing his wand to the umbilical cord, cutting it with a severing charm. 

"Got to heat it…" Sirius mumbled. "How are you?"

"Well… apart from having a couple of broken fingers…" Harry massaged his hand.

"Not you! Ginny!" his godfather said.

"Fine, thanks." she smiled, watching as Ron washed the baby in the basin Sirius had brought. "It wasn't that terrible after all… it would have gone much easier if you had helped me quicker, guys." Harry and Ron exchanged sour looks.

As Ron handed the baby to his mother, Fred and George Weasley burst through the door, heavily panting. "GINNY!" they cried.

"Hello, boys." the young mother greeted them with a radiant smile.

"Just got to know… met Neville… told us that the baby was comin'…" George gabbled.

"And he has arrived, as I see." Fred commented, ogling the small bundle in the crook of Ginny's arm. "Awwwww… how cute… you know what, little one? When mommy and daddy won't have time, uncles Fred and George will take care of you…"

"…and train you to become the greatest Magical Mischief Maker Hogwarts has ever seen!" George added.

"Don't you dare…" Ginny knitted her eyebrows. "My son won't be running around the corridors alone at the dead of night, making mischief!"

"'Course he won't go _alone_… he'll go with your daughter!" George grinned.

"Do you hear that, Harry? They are already planning to corrupt our children!" 

"I don't really mind." Harry replied. He still remembered Lupin's words at the end of third year: '_James would have been highly disappointed if his son had never found any of the secret passages out of the castle_.' Somehow Harry felt the same: he felt he'd be disappointed if his son wouldn't be as big a troublemaker as he and Ron had been. "I really don't mind."

"And what's the name of this handsome young wizard?" Fred asked.

Harry looked down at his newborn son. He had agreed with Ginny that he would name the baby – since Ginny had named Lily. Though he was a bit premature, the baby looked totally healthy and had a strong voice. *I guess, we'll have to give up sleeping for a while… with this volume of voice he surely won't let us have a minute of peace… just like a little roaring lion cub… His star sign is also Leo…* his glance met that of Fred and a big smile spread on his face. "It's Daniel. Daniel Leonard Potter."

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A/N2: yes, I named the baby after Dannie Radcliffe! I hope you liked chapter one – the next instalment is coming soon. And now: review, please!


	2. Wizard, not wizard

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A/N: thanks for all the nice reviews, people! It was very funny that all of them started with: 'Oh, it's here at last!' LOL :) It felt great to be so welcomed – thank you.

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Almah: congrats on being my very first reviewer! :))))

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zzxm: yes, it's a bit longer than TGSoHH and I'll try and post it as often as I did with that one.

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casvv and _AmandaPanda_: I hope you both did well on your tests!

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Mage: I know! A BOY! *big grin* I won't forget it anymore! About your guessing: ten points to Gryffindor!!!

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Kit Cloudkicker: WHAT??? Neville's son??? Heavens! No way! It's Harry's! I get sick of the idea of Gin and Neville… urgh…

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rubyjuls1722: not TOO much angst, don't worry :) just a little bit darker than the first one, but I'll be inserting humour all along to lighten the mood when it gets too dark.

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spangle star: I hope you get well soon :)

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Pumpkin3223: is 'Amy' your author's name? I need to know this or I won't be able to read your fic :) No, this fic won't be about Daniel's exploits at Hogwarts. Dannie will be a baby throughout the whole story.

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X_Tow_Naga: you'll see a bit of H and G's last year in flashbacks. There'll be a bit of Abu, but I'm not making him be the main character, of course! About the shame stuff – you'll get to know it SOON. No, you won't see Neville's parents, neither Harry's parents again, but you'll get lots of Malfoy in the second half of the story (more Malfoy than in TGSoHH :)

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Nikkianna: of course I remember you :)

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star queen: thanks, my exams went well! I didn't fail a single one!

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AniMouner: I never wanted Harry to have a son called James. It was enough to name his daughter after his mum.

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Harrysgirl: …and I thank you for what you wrote. I'm touched.

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Lionheart Eternal: Brian? That means you're a boy? (It's always nice to know that even boys like my fics:)

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Toby Haine: it was nice to hear from you again!

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Notebook Girl: yes, I'm in college, I'm studying foreign trade and economics (which don't have a lot to do with story-writing :)

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Cecile: well, maybe some day I'll make up an own story. But now I'm just writing fanfiction.

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DragonSinger: well, the choice of name had two reasons: 1 – to call the baby after Dan Radcliffe, 2 – to give him a name that had something to do with lions. So of course I thought of the Bible Daniel as well when choosing this name.

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veronik: you're from Peru??? Cool! Then you surely know the soap operas "Luz Maria" and "Pobre Diabla" with Angie Cepeda, huh? Both were shown here in Hungary :)

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GinnyPotter387: no, it doesn't take long time to make up a new chapter.

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Hobbit Feet: "may the force be with this one!" – Wow, thanks, that was cute!

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LisaQT3: I also don't like scenes about the miracle of birth – that's why I did this one in a funny way, to avoid going all mushy. Don't get mad at me, but I can't write everyone about the new updates.

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Mikey: a bit of Hagrid, a bit of Albus, but Voldie? He's dead!!! :) And yes, Harry is REALLY different in this one – a grown man with problems of adults. You'll see.

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jennaration: I DID email you (at least I hope so, I emailed 80 people), maybe you were among those 6 to whom my mails couldn't be delivered. Sorry, not my fault.

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Derkaun Zarion: there was no reason to make him premature (and the reason for naming him Daniel was not only Dan Radliffe. See my answer to DragonSinger.) Draco's all right, thanks. You'll see him soon.

All right, enough of me, on to chapter two! Enjoy!

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Chapter 2

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Wizard, not wizard

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31st July

"How many people?" Harry pulled back the curtain and peered down at the garden.

"About fifty, I guess." Ginny replied.

"But… but I told you that I wanted a small celebration. Only the family and the closest friends."

"I know, but Sirius couldn't be convinced. This is the first birthday-party held at Black Manor for… twenty years?"

Harry nodded. "Sirius told me… they celebrated Father's birthday here only three months before he died…" his voice trailed off. Ginny took his hands into hers and squeezed them reassuringly.

"Ouch!" he hissed and tore his right hand out of his wife's grip.

"Sorry…" she apologised. "Does it still hurt very much?"

"My ring-finger has broken and two others suffered serious bruises." Harry replied. "Next time we'll have children, I'll cast an anti-break charm on my hands."

"You sound pretty sure that I'll let you do that to me again…" she tried to look serious but didn't manage.

"Just the usual Potter-self-confidence." he grinned and pulled her into a hug. 

"Okay, Mr. Self-confident, it's time for you to descend into the circle of lesser people who are anxiously waiting to see you blow away nineteen candles." 

"Oh, all right… I'll do it. But just for Sirius." he sighed and headed for the door.

"Wait a minute, I've almost forgotten something!" she called after him.

"What?"

"Your present." she gave him a charming smile.

"My_ present_?" he raised an eyebrow with an impish smile. "But I thought it was recommended to _refrain from it_ for at least one month after giving birth…"

"Not _that_, you dupe!" she giggled. "You'll get _that present_ in time. This is something else." she opened the wardrobe and started looking for something. 

"Now where it is?" Harry heard her say, as well saw her flinging things out of the wardrobe: robes, pointed hats, a broom-servicing kit, a sneakoscope, a monkey ("sod off, Abu!) "Ah, there you are!" she pulled something huge, wrapped in yellow paper, out from under a box of wizard chess. "Happy birthday, dearest!"

Harry took the package and felt it. "Um, something soft and cuddly… let me guess… a teddy bear?"

Ginny shook her head. "Keep guessing."

"A pillow?"

"Nay."

"Let's see… it feels… furry… a yeti?"

"That would be bigger." she remarked.

"You can't be sure. Ever seen a yeti?"

"No. Have you?"

"No, but I had the honour of playing one in Lockhart's class. The yeti had a cold, so I needed to sneeze… not a yeti, then."

"No." she smiled. "Go ahead, open it."

Harry unwrapped his present to see something he really hadn't expected. "A… fur-coat?"

"Do you like it?"

"Ah, yeah… it might come in handy… in about half a year…" he saw disappointment spread all over Ginny's face. "I mean… it is really useful… Sybill Trelawney promised snow for tomorrow, so after all…"

"You don't like it." she observed.

"But I do!" Harry replied hastily. "It's a very nice coat of… of…"

"Pogrebin fur."

"What?" he blinked.

"Pogrebin. Haven't you paid attention at Care of Magical Creatures?" she furrowed her brow.

"Well… Ron and I used to spend the time talking to Hagrid instead of caring for the creatures…" he shrugged. "There was only one exception… the skrewts… brrr…" he shuddered. "Hagrid's favourite, self-bred little pets… oh, did I say _little_?"

Ginny shook her head. 

"What?" Harry wondered, seeing his wife's unreadable expression.

"Harry Potter… you are such a big child!" she replied. "Sometimes you can be so wise that it scares me, but other times – like now – you are like…"

"Ron?" he finished her sentence.

"No. Fred and George." she smirked.

"That's not a nice thing to speak about my shortcomings on my birthday…" he scowled like a stubborn five-year-old. He looked so endearing that Ginny couldn't resist the temptation and pulled him into a long kiss. As they parted, she spoke up:

"Number one: you ARE like a big baby sometimes, but I don't mind, since most of my family are so. Number two: you DO have your shortcomings, but I've got used to them. Number three: you are a terrible liar, and you know it as well as I know. Number four: pogrebins are Russian demons with lots of fur. That's all."

"Is that all? Really?"

"No. There's one more thing." she smiled. "I love you."

"And I love you back." he kissed her once more. "And I'm sure I'll grow to like that coat, too."

"You'd better…" she replied. "You might need it earlier than you thought."

"Ice age is coming, right?" he laid the coat on the bed. 

"Could be." she laughed. "But first your birthday-party is coming. C'mon, let's go down!"

* * * * *

As they exited the house, a dozen of Filibuster's No-Heat, Wet-Start fireworks exploded in the garden, ten of them rocketing into the skies, the remaining two setting an old, gnarly oak-tree on fire.

"Freeeed!" came Mrs. Weasley's exasperated voice. "What did you do again?"

"It wasn't Fred, it was me!" George yelled back, casting an extinguishing spell on the oak-tree.

"Nice start for a party." Harry grinned as everyone surrounded him, shouting and singing Happy Birthday.

"I've baked the cake!" Hagrid asserted proudly, not noticing the sheer terror that fell over the guests' faces. Harry took a deep breath and blew away the nineteen candles on the cake, that had the following script on it '_HARRY BIRTHDAY_!'

"Go on, slice it!" Hagrid gave Harry an encouraging smile, handing him a huge knife. To Harry's surprise the cake wasn't as hard as a rock. "Olymp's recipe!" the half-giant added. 

"Ah, I see…" Harry smirked. "Getting along well, you two?"

"Never better, pal, never better." Hagrid beamed. "Nice ter be a married man, really."

"'Course it is." Harry cast a side-ways glance at Ginny. "It's wonderful. Just wait until your first child is born, Hagrid."

The giant turned ruby-red and chuckled into his beard. "That mighta come sometime too… but Olymp's bin quite busy with Beaxbatons during the school-year…"

"…and as we know it takes two people, right?" Harry laughed. "Well, it's summer now, she's free from her school duties…"

"Hey, have you seen your presents yet?" Sirius walked up to them.

Harry shook his head no, and let his godfather lead him up to a long table decked with packages of all sizes and colours.

"My gosh!" the young man breathed. "Have you people mistaken me for Dudley? It's more than 39 presents!"

"More? I counted only 38." came a familiar voice from behind Harry's back. He turned to see his cousin, holding hands with his wife, Millicent Dursley. 

"I invited them." Ginny whispered into her husband's ears. "I hope you don't mind."

"No… until he leaves some food for the other guests…" he whispered back. "Hello, Dudley, Millicent, nice to see you."

"Nice to be here." young Dursley stretched out his pudgy hand and Harry shook it. "Happy birthday, by the way."

"Um, thanks. How are you doing nowadays?"

"Very well, thanks. I'm working at Grunnings with dad… pretty boring if you ask me, but dad loves it…" Dudley shrugged. 

"And how are uncle Vernon and aunt Petunia? Haven't seen them for two years." Harry asked politely. Not that he was a bit interested in them, though…

"Mom and Dad… well…" Dudley drawled, "…could be better. Mom's near to a nervous breakdown and dad is also very jittery."

"Why?" asked Ginny.

"Uh, you know, funny things happen at home… with my brother, David."

"Funny things?" Harry shot a meaningful look at Ginny, whose mouth tucked into a smirk. "What funny things?"

"Oh, for example… one day Mom wanted to nurse Davie… when she thought he had enough and wanted to stop breastfeeding him, he… he just… he just wouldn't come off her breast! Like he had been glued there or something…"

Harry's grin grew wider.

"…and there was another case… Mom was listening to some Mozart music on Classic FM, Davie was crying, and then suddenly the radio switched over to Virgin 1215 that broadcast rap and Davie stopped crying… Dad called a spiritualist, but he didn't find ghosts in the house… strange, huh?"

"D'you think we should tell them?" Harry whispered to Ginny.

"Well, they'd get to know it sooner or later, anyway…" she shrugged. 

"I wish I could tell it directly to uncle Vernon and aunt Petunia!" Harry sighed. "But lacking a chance, Dudley will do…" he winked at his wife and turned to his cousin. "Listen, Dudley, there's something you need to know about David…" 

"What?" Dudley swallowed a huge chunk of cake.

"He's a wizard."

Dudley made a choking noise. At first Harry and Ginny thought he was only laughing, but then it became obvious that he was _really_ choking. 

"Hey!" Harry started to pat him on the back, trying to help him spit out the crumb that went down the wrong way – to no avail. Ginny conjured a glass of water and forced it down Dudley's throat, on to worsen his condition. 

"Oh, do something!" Millicent screamed, casting a fanning charm on her hubby, whose head had turned strawberry. "He's going to die! Help!"

"Stay back, I'll save him!" Gilderoy Lockhart made an elegant swish with his wand, causing a loud bang. "Ooops… sorry!"

As the smoke lifted, they saw that Dudley wasn't choking anymore – he only stood there with a bluish face… _slim_. "I'm gonna… throw up!" he groaned and stumbled into a bush.

"Geez, it wasn't deliberate…" Lockhart apologised. "I'm terribly sorry, I…"

"No cakes… never again!" Dudley emerged from the bush, his face still blue, his suit hanging on him like his clothes did on Harry years earlier. 

"Oh, Duddy, dear, are you all right?" Millicent cooed, gathering him into her arms. "What did you do to him, you raving maniac?" she glowered at Gilderoy. 

"I… I…" Lockhart stuttered.

"He saved your husband's life and spared him a terrible and painstaking diet." Anck sun-Amun, Gilderoy's fiancee declared. "Come on, Gildy, you have to drink something, you're so scared…" she led him away from the little group.

"I have to admit that our friend's clumsiness was to your advantage." Harry said, sizing up his cousin who had lost at least 70 kilos in a couple of seconds. "Gilderoy could include this quick-diet program into the services of his beauty salon. Don't you think, dear?"

Ginny nodded. "You look good, Dudley."

"Really?" the slim Dudley blinked, unbelievingly touching parts of his body. 

"Really." Ginny replied. "Doesn't he, Millicent?" 

"I don't know… I liked the old Dudders… he was so soft… now there's nothing to grope on him…" the fat girl pouted.

"I could get fat again, if you want me to!" Dudley suggested eagerly. 

"You've just said you'd never eat a cake again." Harry reminded him.

"I still could eat ice creams, whipped cream, bacon and…" Dudley's voice trailed off. "Oh my… is Davie REALLY a wizard?"

* * * * *

By sunset each one of Harry's presents had been opened. He got lots of useless stuff like three new cages for Hedwig, four collapsible cribs for Daniel and five wand-polishing kits. 

From Ron he received a _Rocket 4000_ broomstick (Ron was satisfied with his _Rocket 3000_, but wanted to surprise his best friend with the most top-of-the-class broom. Now that he had lots of money he was happy to be able to buy his best friend expensive presents. He had always felt awkward when he had got presents from Harry but he wasn't in the position to reciprocate.)

Even Oliver Wood sent Harry a gift: a set of Puddlemere United Quidditch robes (navy blue with the sign sedge). A card was enclosed: "_You'll need it soon. Can't wait to play in the same team with you. Oliver._"

"Neither can I." Harry smiled.

At nine o'clock professor McGonagall arrived. After shortly greeting Harry, she gave Hermione a meaningful look and asked her to show the garden.

"Nice party, Harry." Neville said, sipping his butter-beer, watching Hagrid and Olympe (the latter still went by the name Madame Maxime because she thought that Olympe Hagrid sounded silly), Fred and Angelina, and George and Katie dance. "Congratulations on the birth of your son. Can I see him?"

"Later…when the crowd has left. I don't want too many people swarming around him… he's just 10 days old, after all. He is sleeping up in the kids' room with Lily and Yvette."

"Yvette?" Neville blinked. "Who's Yvette?"

"Bill and Fleur's daughter. You know… those two are always abroad. Poor Yvette got ill and needed Fleur so much but she wasn't around. Disappointing." he shook his head in disgust. 

"I heard veelas never made good mothers." Neville added. "Is the child okay now?"

"Yeah, fortunately. Dinky takes good care of her and of my children, too."

"Dinky???"

"Our house-elf. She's Dobby's cousin. Er… second-cousin… I guess… but you may never know family-relations when house-elves are concerned."

"Is Dinky a slave or is she working for money?"

"Do you think I'd dare keep a house-elf as a slave with Hermione as my sister-in-law???" 

"Er… no." Longbottom shook his head.

"Dumbledore's arrived!" Ron came up to them. "With his girlfriend."

"His _what_?" asked Harry and Neville in unison.

"You know… Mrs. Figg." Ron smirked.

"Oh…" Neville nodded.

Harry looked confused from one to the other, not understanding. "Did I miss something?"

"Well… there was a nice article from Rita Skeeter revealing the secret love-life of the headmaster… but if my memory serves me well, you were quite lost at that time…"

"How came you never told me?" Harry demanded.

"You never asked." Ron shrugged.

"Good evening, professor." Harry shook Dumbledore's hand. "Pity you couldn't come earlier – there's nothing left of the cake."

"But I hope there's some Ogden's Fire Whisky left… or at least a bit of pumpkin fizz." Albus winked at him, but strangely his cheerfulness didn't seem real. Harry couldn't put a finger on it, but didn't even want to. 

"Plenty." he replied with a smile. 

"Ah, I see professor McGonagall has also arrived." the headmaster looked over Harry's shoulder. "Very good, very good, we need to announce something!"

"Announce? What?"

"The reason why Ms. Granger, er, I mean Mrs. Weasley spent a couple of days at Russia."

"You are really secretive, professor." Harry said, but Albus only gave him an impish smile.

As soon as everyone in the garden fell silent, Albus Dumbledore spoke up: "First of all: let me wish our young friend a very happy nineteenth birthday! This is a special day for our Harry, and I'd like to make it even more special for him by handing over this letter." the headmaster gave Harry an envelope that he opened immediately.

"An invitation? For me?" his eyes widened as he read the text. "To be a judge in the Triwizard Tournament held at Durmstrang???" he shot an incredulous look at the old wizard. "Why me?"

"Why?" Albus smiled. "I thought it was obvious. You ARE Harry Potter. The Boy Who Lived. Winner of the previous Triwizard Tournament. Winner of the Moon Run. Order of Merlin, First Class. Your involvement in bringing about the end of Voldemort's tyranny is also well-known… Durmstrang's new headmaster said he'd be honoured if you would kindly accept to be one of the judges."

"Durmstrang's new headmaster?" Ron asked. "Who's that?"

"An acquaintance of yours, Mr. Weasley." Albus replied. "Viktor Krum."

"Krum?" some of the guests murmured. They had always known Krum as the famous Bulgarian Quidditch player. No one would have thought that he'd give up on Quidditch to overtake the duties of running Durmstrang. But at least now they all knew where Viktor had disappeared about a year ago and why he wasn't seen at any matches anymore.

"Isn't it wonderful, dearest?" Ginny asked. "You are going to be a judge!"

"You KNEW it." Harry declared. "You knew it, that's why you bought me that fur-coat."

"Exactly." she nodded. 

"But… but how did you know?"

"From Hermione."

"Hermione?" Ron raised an eyebrow, casting a glance at her wife who was animatedly talking with McGonagall. "How did _she _know about it?"

"Remember the day Daniel was born?" Ginny asked. "Hermione received an owl from Russia that morning. A letter from Viktor Krum. She, professor Dumbledore and Krum had a meeting in St. Petersburg to discuss the details of the tournament."

"But WHY Hermione? What does she have to do with this whole tournament thingy?" Ron furrowed his brow.

"She can answer that herself." Ginny replied as her sister-in-law and professor McGonagall stepped to them.

"What can I explain?" Hermione asked.

"Your visit of Viktor Krum." Ron glowered at her.

"Ah, that one!" she waved. "Well, I was asked by professor McGonagall to accompany her to Durmstrang, since she will be the judge of Hogwarts this year, not professor Dumbledore."

"Not you, professor?" Harry asked. "Why? I thought the headmasters were to represent their schools at the tournament."

"That is really so, Harry," Dumbledore answered, "but nowadays I'm really busy at Hogwarts, so I asked Minerva to deputise for me and she accepted, with one proviso: that a young teacher should escort her to Durmstrang. We thought of Hermione at once, knowing her friendship with Mr. Krum."

"_Friendship_, eh?" Ron crossed his arms. "And what exactly does it mean that you'll be _escorting_ professor McGonagall? I hope it doesn't mean…"

"I'm sorry, Ron." his wife took his hand. "I'm going to stay there until the tournament ends… but I'll come home for Christmas and Easter of course."

Ron tore his hand out of Hermione's. "How…? How could you agree to… to be away from me for a whole school-year?" his face was as red as his hair. "We've just got married and you are already leaving me!"

"Oh, don't be such a prat, Ron! It won't last that long, and just to remind you: Hagrid and Madame Maxime are also newly-weds and they also have to part for a while!"

"I - don't – care – for – Hagrid – and – Madame – Maxime!" Ron bellowed, turned on his heels and ran away.

"Ron!" Hermione yelled after him.

"Leave him!" Harry placed his hand on Hermione's shoulder. "He'll calm down, just give him time… anyway, does being a judge mean that I'll also have to spend the whole school-year at Durmstrang?"

"Of course not." she shook her head. "You'll only come for the tasks. You are the guest of honour, remember."

"I see." Harry smiled. "Glad to hear that I don't have to leave my family here." he pulled Ginny into a hug.

"Speaking of family…" Dumbledore interjected, "Could I see the youngest Potter?"

"Oh, of course… come, this way." Harry said, and hand in hand with Ginny he went upstairs, followed by Albus and Minerva.

"Wonder why prof Dumbledore didn't want to go to Durmstrang." Fred told George. "What will make him _so busy_ that he had to send McGonagall?"

"_What_? I'd rather say '_who_'." George smirked. "And the answer is Arabella Figg."

"Dumbledore… that old scoundrel…" Fred grinned back at his twin.

* * * * *

"Oh, so here he is." Albus approached the crib. Little Daniel Potter was peacefully sleeping in it. "You couldn't even deny being the father, Harry. He looks exactly like you did when you were born."

"Everyone says the same." Harry smiled proudly. "They say he's a spitting image of me at this age. Aren't you, Dannie?" he reached out to adjust the baby's quilt. 

"Isn't he adorable, professor McGonagall?" Ginny asked with a brilliant smile.

Minerva forced herself to return the young mother's smile. "He is really handsome."

"Just like his father." Ginny replied.

"It runs in the family." Harry added with a wink, looking at the headmaster, who suddenly seemed troubled again. "Are you all right, professor Dumbledore?"

Albus cast a meaningful look at Minerva, who nodded. 

"There's something we need to tell you." he said finally. "We didn't want to tell this on your birthday, Harry, but you'd get to know it sooner or later."

"You scare me!" Ginny breathed, clutching her husband's hand.

"What you want to tell… is it in connection with Daniel?" Harry asked.

"Yes, it is." the headmaster nodded, looking at McGonagall.

"Albus received your owl about the birth of your son on 22nd July." Minerva said. "The same day I checked the Hogwarts parchment book to see whom I had to send letters this year…" she paused for a bit, heaving a deep sigh. "Your son… Daniel… was _not_ in the book."

Ginny gasped and squeezed Harry's still too sensitive fingers. This time he didn't exclaim in pain. Didn't even budge – as though he had been petrified.

"You know what this means, don't you, Harry?" Dumbledore looked worriedly at him.

Harry nodded. "It means… it means my son is… _a squib_."


	3. The Moment of The Truth

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A/N: thanks for all the reviews, it was quite funny that 98% of them started with: oh my, he's a squib! How dare you??? LOL:)

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Slytherins R Sexy: about the plot? Well, I hinted at it – Dumbledore gave Harry a letter in chapter two. That letter's content revealed what the plot would be about…

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Mage: it's going to be a bit longer than the first fic, and yes, you're asking too much :)))

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Notebook Girl: well, Davie being a wizard does have something to do with Dan being a squib – it'll be explained later. No, no adoption at all!

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BlueIce: there will be some very short chapters (this one is the shortest of all) but there'll be much longer ones as well.

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Brigade701: no, no latent powers. 

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Yibble Legnets: you thought I didn't like you? What gives you that idea? I cannot answer everyone's reviews, I simply need to select the ones that are the most intriguing – but now I'm answering you:) And please, don't shut up, you aren't annoying at all! About the meaning of my name: Agi is the Hungarian nickname for Agnes (that's my given name) and Vega is a star in the constellation Lyra (I love astronomy very much).

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Pumpkin3223: what? I thought Filch could never do magic! He tried but he never succeeded!

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PUNKsarcasm: why didn't Neville's parents know that he was a wizard? Well, probably they never asked McGonagall whether the boy's name was in the parchment book or not :) I think when Rowling wrote book one she didn't think of the parchment book yet – she talked about the parchment book in a much later interview. So that's the source of the inconsistency.

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Mikey: no human sacrifice.

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Aurumlupi: at first this is the shame, but later something else will happen. Not revealing anything! :)) Switch kids? Hehe, no. That would be a bit perverse, wouldn't it?

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Dark Faery: Harry met Abu in Egypt (TGSoHH chapter 17). He took the monkey from Egypt to India and from India to Great Britain. So simple. More babies? Maybe. Bad guys? Of course! Remus? A bit more of a role then in TGSoHH, but not much more.

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LisaQT3: more trouble for Harry and Ginny – and almost everyone - of course.

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veronik: I watched Luz Maria (but I think it should have ended when Lucecita and Gustavo got married. It was silly that Gustavo and the baby got kidnapped by Myrta.) I started to watch Pobre Diabla but stopped – found it boring. (my mom loved it, though!) 3 days between chapters, I guess. We'll see…

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princesswitch: this story is a bit longer than the first one – so MORE THAN 34 chapters.

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jeanineDR23: sorry if the marriages are annoying you, because there's more to come… About the title: you're partly right. But there'll be more shame for Harry.

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Faunix: I guess 3-4 days between chapters.

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JoeBob1379: read my answer to Aurumlupi. Yes, I DID know that I wrote Harry Birthday – it was a joke of mine, because I have typed Harry's name so many times that whenever I want to type 'happy', I type 'harry' instead. So I decided to type this deliberately that way:) The other reason for it: you remember the tart Hagrid gave Harry in the movie? He wrote 'happee birthday' on it! Yeah, Arabella and Albus are together.

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Draco's Secret Lover: you'll get to see a bit of Draco soon, and a lot of him later. Be patient. In this story there'll be much more Draco than in the first one.

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shalara: no, Daniel and David's names aren't mixed up. They were born at different times – Davie in December, Dan in July.

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goodbooks3989: I'd never ever write a Ginny/Neville fic! Yuck!

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AniMourner: the fic will revolve around the Triwizard Tournament and there'll be (a) new enemy(s) as well.

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Zenon Lee: read my answer to Aurumlupi.

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em1701e: I upload when I have time, but I'll try to upload two chapters a week.

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Nicky: you'll get the answer to your question from the next chapter – not this one.

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PepsiAngel: you were REALLY losing your interest in HP???? Heavens! (though I used to be crazy about Star Wars for four years, then last year I myself was surprised to realise that I had lost my interest in it – because I read HP!:))

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Super saya-Jin Gotan: no, Petunia WON'T hug Harry! No way! :))

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Kristen Michelle: upload more often? No, I don't think so. Two chaps a week (or maybe three, but definitely no more!) No, McGonagall didn't read it wrong. Dan's name wasn't in the parchment book.

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teacherchez: read my answer to JoeBob1379.

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HP Blone Crazy Chick: yes, of course lots of wizards in Great Britain will know about Dan being a squib – this isn't something you can keep a secret forever – sooner or later people would start to ask why the baby hasn't done any magic yet, or in eleven years they might ask why he didn't get a letter from Hogwarts. About Dudley… read this chapter :)

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Toby Haine: read my answer to HP Blone Crazy Chick right above you.

And now – to chapter 3! (Sorry that this is so short, next chapter is going to be quite long!)

Enjoy!

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Chapter 3

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The moment of truth

Petunia Dursley, at 4 Privet Drive, was deeply immersed in making a pink icing on the cake she'd baked for her ickle Dudlickins, who was going to visit them at last. 

"Looks good." her husband reached out to nip a bit of whipped cream from the cake's top.

"No, you don't!" Petunia slapped his hand with a wooden spoon. "It's for Dudders!"

"But Petunia, dear, you are exaggerating the importance of all this…" Vernon started reasoning. "You are behaving as though you hadn't seen your son for ages."

"And that's exactly the point – I haven't seen my Dudders for three weeks, Vernon! You get to see him every weekday at Grunnings, but I don't!"

"Now, now, dear…" her husband shook his head with an amused smile. 

"Don't you dare touch the icing, Vernon Dursley!" she shouted. "Go and change Davie's diaper, I hear he needs it!"

"Me again?" Vernon groaned, hearing their baby son cry. "I have already changed his diaper."

"Once. Two months ago." she pointed out. "Go and take care of him, I need to prepare everything for my Dudley's arrival! Everything has to be perfect!… Though I fear with that _woman_ along nothing can be perfect." she sighed. "I seriously hope he isn't bringing her."

"You're talking about our daughter-in-law, Petunia." Vernon reminded her.

"Like I didn't know." she wrinkled her nose.

As her husband left the kitchen, the doorbell rang.

"He's here!" Petunia clasped her hands and rushed to open the door. "Oh… _you._" she spat with contempt, seeing Millicent Bulstrode Dursley standing at the doorframe.

"Yes, it's me. How are you, dear mother-in-law?"

"I've been fine. Up till now." Petunia wiped her floury hands on her apron.

"May we come in at all?" Millicent asked.

"_We_? Why are you talking in plural? And where did you leave my Dudlickins?"

"I'm here, mum." a voice came from behind Millicent's back.

"Where?" Petunia gasped. "Have you… have you magicked him… to become invisible?" she bawled at her daughter-in-law.

"What? No!"

"Then?" Petunia stood with arms akimbo, glaring at her. "Where's he?"

"Here, mum." said a voice and a bag-of-bones guy in tight-fitting jeans stepped out from behind Millicent.

Mrs. Dursley clutched her chest and fainted.

* * * * *

"Hey, mum… wake up…" Dudley fanned her with a copy of Sunday Times. "No use… she isn't reacting. Must have been a real shock."

"Stand back, I'll wake her." Millicent said, flipping her wand. "_Enervate_."

"What do you think you are doing in _my house_?" Vernon Dursley, who had just arrived at the living room, yelled at his daughter-in-law. 

"Just trying to bring her around." Dudley answered.

"Still, no one's allowed to do magic…" Vernon's voice faltered as his glance fell upon his son. "Bugger! What have you done to my son, you little bitch?" he was about to lunge at Millicent, when Dudley – slim, thus fast – jumped between the two of them.

"No, dad, it wasn't Milli! She has nothing to do with this! Really!"

"Nothing?" Vernon's face contorted with fury. "And you expect me to believe it?"

"Yes, I do!" Dudley replied, trying to conceal his wife behind his back – which, in his current state – was quite impossible, Millicent being twice as wide as he was.

"Don't… don't you believe them, Vernon!" Petunia sat up, with an incredibly suffering expression. "She's one of them, never forget! One of those lunatics!"

"She's no lunatic, just a witch!" Dudley protested.

"Bad enough!" Vernon snorted.

"Okay, I won't have more of this! If all you can do is insult my wife, then I might as well leave! C'mon, Millicent!" Dudley turned on his heels and headed for the door.

"No!" Petunia hopped up from the sofa and hurried after them. "I… I didn't mean it, sweetums! Just don't leave yet… please…" she put her hands together.

"'kay." Dudley sighed and led his wife back into the living room. "But no more insulting Millicent."

"No way, my dear." Petunia shook her head. "Come, both of you, have a seat. I'm going to bring the cake I've baked just for you, sweetums… I see you need it…"

A minute later Mrs. Dursley appeared again, balancing a huge cake with pink icing and lots of whipped cream on a silver tray. "There. Take two slices, Dudders. Or rather three. You seem to have been made to starve, pompkin."

"No, I wasn't, don't worry, mum." Dudley stuffed a huge chunk of cake into his mouth (he seemed to have forgotten about his vow that he'd never again eat a cake.)

"Then… how?" Petunia furrowed her brow. "Three weeks ago you seemed totally normal, and now… you look like that bag-of-bones cousin of yours."

"Harry?" Dudley grinned. "Well, actually it all happened at Harry's party."

"What party?" Vernon interjected.

"His birthday party, dad… not that you know when he was born, do you?"

"Should we?" Vernon grunted.

Dudley shrugged. "Never mind… so Milli and I were invited to his party. A real magic party, you know."

"Don't even try describe it, please." Petunia said.

"I need to so that you'll understand what happened. So…" suddenly Vernon's plate slipped out of his hand and started floating in mid-air, then zoomed in the direction of the staircase.

"What…?" Mr. Dursley hopped up, chasing his slice of cake. "Come back, you…" he looked at his daughter-in-law. "D'you think this is funny? Well, I don't. Give me my cake back!"

"But I wasn't doing anything, Mr. Dursley!" Millicent retorted.

"Who was it, then?" Petunia raised an eyebrow, suspiciously glaring at Millicent. Mr. Dursley gave up chasing his cake and reached for another slice, taking place on the sofa, next to his wife.

"Er… let me continue the story." Dudley said hastily. "So… I happened to choke on a slice of Harry's birthday cake…" in that instant the tray with the remaining slice of the cake rose up into the air. "I… choked on a slice of cake…" Dudley tried to continue, but didn't manage.

"Now enough is enough!" Vernon bawled at Millicent. "Either you stop that or leave my house at once, you filthy little…"

"All right! I'm leaving!" she stood up. "And I'll never come back again!"

"Good!" Petunia and Vernon replied in unison.

"If she leaves, then I also leave." Dudley stood up, too. "And you'll never see me again."

"But Dudley… this… this… woman… bewitched you!" his mother breathed. "I'm sure she put a charm on you and is controlling whatever you do!"

"I'd never ever control him, Mrs. Dursley." Millicent declared with such dignity that no one supposed she had in her. 

"Not controlling him, eh?" Vernon growled. "Then how do you explain his behaviour?"

"There's no use thinking that she's bewitched me, dad!" Dudley replied. "Or maybe yes…"

Both his parents gasped.

"…she did bewitch me, at the first minute I saw her. And yes, she's keeping me under her control… by the love I feel for her. Yes, she keeps me spellbound. But that isn't bad, dad. It's wonderful…" he slipped an arm around his wife. "I love her, mum."

"Ooooooh, my little Dudlickins!" Petunia burst into tears and gathered both her son and daughter-in-law into a firm embrace.

"Hey, Petunia… you're stifling them." Vernon pulled her away from the young couple. "Let's go back, shall we?"

"Millicent?" Dudley looked at his wife with a look pleading her to give his parents one last chance.

"All right." she nodded, accepting his offered hand.

As they all sat back down to the table, the silver tray returned – empty.

"Is it that dog again?" Petunia looked at Vernon. "I've told the neighbour a thousand times not to let his damned dog wander around… it has come into the house at least four times now. What an insatiable furball!"

"I'll go and give him a kick." Vernon stood up and went looking for the dog that must have eaten all the cake.

"So… where was I?" Dudley asked.

"The party and the cake." his wife replied.

"Oh, yeah, that… so, there was I, choking on a cake when that guy appeared… Gideon or what was his name…"

"There's no dog in here, Petunia." Vernon came back. "Butch is tied in the neighbour's back garden. He can't have been…"

"The ghosts again?" Petunia blanched. 

"Ghosts?" Dudley furrowed his brow. "I thought you called a spiritualist who told you that there were no ghosts in whole Little Whinging."

"That's right, but your mother keeps imagining things." Mr. Dursley replied, reaching out for a bottle of orange juice. "Anyone?" he asked.

"I'd like to have some, please." Millicent said, raising her glass. Just when Vernon had half-filled her glass, it had zoomed out of her hand, making Mr. Dursley spill at least two decilitres on the floor.

"Damn!" he yelled, as the glass – half filled – disappeared into hall. "Enough is enough! No one can say that I'm an impatient man, but everyone has a point when he reaches the end of his tether – and for me it's NOW!" he bellowed. "What the hell do you think of yourself, girl? Do you think you can play with us as you please?"

"It wasn't me!" Millicent rose to her feet.

"Yes, it wasn't her!" Dudley followed suit.

"Not her? NOT HER?" Petunia joined in with a shrieking voice. "Don't you take us for complete fools!"

"But you are!" Dudley cried with clenched fists. "Don't you see the obvious?"

"What? That your abnormal little wife is playing tricks on us?" his mother asked.

"Are you really that blind?" Dudley gaped. "I thought you had more sense… but I was wrong. Harry was right when seeing you for what you are: short-sighted, old-fashioned and absolutely unbearable!" 

"What?" Petunia clutched at her heart. "D…dudders…"

"You are pathetic." Dudley shook his head. "I'm ashamed of being a Muggle like you."

"Son!" Vernon breathed. "You… you don't know what you are saying! You must be ill!"

"No, I'm not ill, just slim!" he retorted. "Having lost seventy kilos seems to have caused me to lose my hostile attitude towards magic! It seems to have opened my eyes and now I see clearly… see what idiots I have for parents!"

"Dudley! Take it back! How dare you insult us after having brought you up, given you everything you ever wanted…"

"I'll take it back as soon as you also take back what you said about my wife!"

"Your wife…" Vernon's eyes became slits as he looked at his daughter-in-law. "Your wife got what she deserved! A low-down, abnormal, hocus-pocusing little tramp!"

"Just as low-down and abnormal as your son?" Millicent asked.

"What?" Petunia blinked. "Dudley was never abnormal!"

"Exactly." Vernon nodded.

"It's not about me. Have you really never… never realised why so many funny things have been happening around here? Especially around David?" Dudley asked.

"We…" Petunia started.

"…just…" continued Vernon.

"…thought…"

"…there were…"

"…ghosts." Petunia finished.

"Hah! Ghosts!" Millicent smirked. "Look at your ghost!" she pointed at something, behind the Dursley couple.

Petunia and Vernon turned around to see David, toddling in their direction with whipped-cream-smeared face.

"Holy… heavens…" Petunia breathed. "He's… he's standing, Vernon! Walking!"

"And eating a cake! At the age of seven months…" Vernon whispered.

"And it's not everything." Dudley added.

"No?" his parents breathed, knowing the worst was to come.

"No. He's a wizard."

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A/N2: next chapter will be dealing with Harry and Ginny's reaction to the cruel truth. Stay tuned – and review!


	4. Frozen

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A/N: thanks for the nice reviews, people! 

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Nikkianna: yes, actually the Potter kids will meet Davie.

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Tessa: when did Neville lose weight? Well, I don't think he was so fat that he couldn't ride a broom, was he? For example in book one and the movie he was riding a broomstick – in a funny way, of course, but he was doing it, all the same! And according to the books Marcus Flint looked like a troll – that means he wasn't too skinny either.

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Maddy: sorry, but… you'll cry then :)

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Moony Lover: no, there's no spell to give Dannie David's powers.

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Pumpkin3223: oh, you mean Vernon calling Milli a little bitch? Well, I thought he had to be very mad at her… anyway, I didn't take it as a flame. I myself have written people reviews telling that they were using too many swear words, but in those stories Harry was swearing all the time, and I think he isn't the type to swear. However, the Dursleys are exactly the type – IMHO :) You mentioned you were reading some new series – what is that? If it's good then I might also read it. 

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Angel Kisses: is 'Angel Kisses' your author name? I need to know it if I want to read your fic:)

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DragonSinger: decilitre (or deciliter): is the tenth of a litre (liter), which is a basic unit for measuring an amount of liquid in the metric system. In Europe people use the metric system, but you must be American, right? You use ounces and pints for measuring liquid, don't you?

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Scratches: you'll get lots of Draco later, I promise! (and a bit of him right in this chapter)

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veronik: yes, the fic is finished, but I'm still making amendments.

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Gwen Fifortry: um, I fear I don't really know Elton John's songs – I know only 'Can you feel the love tonight' and 'Candle in the wind', sorry. Is 'Daniel' also a song of his?

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Gryffindor Galloper: little Lily is at Black Manor along with her parents – she was mentioned in about two sentences in chapter one. H and G won't adopt David, neither will Petunia and Vernon adopt Daniel. Everyone sticks to their own kids.

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Almah: no, my friend, you weren't the first :)

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Hobbit_Feet: Luke Skywalker's son IS A JEDI!!! *fortunately, LOL* Little Ben… so cute :)

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LisaQT3: yes, I'm definitely evil, LOL :) No, Dumbledore won't really have an explanation – the explanation will come from someone else – someone you'd never expect :)

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PUNKsarcasm: you won't get to see the Dursleys' reaction until chapter 17, sorry :) And no, it's not true that fat people are mean and skinny ones are nice! I know lots of skinny people who are really mean, but my mum, for example is NOT skinny, and she's still wonderful! (she's nice, has a sense of humour and loves Harry! She's my beta-reader, after all :)

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Rab: I hope you are feeling better now :)

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Mikey: yes, I re-read it and my mum also re-reads it and I correct stuff before I upload.

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jennaration: are you from a Spanish-speaking country?

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Toby Haine, Rubyjuls1722, Aurumlupi and_ ILOVELINKINPARK222_: sorry, no more Dursleys till chapter 17.

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PepsiAngel: what does 'schnazz' mean? I couldn't find it in any dictionary!

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X_Tow_Naga: how old is your brother? And how old are you? *just wondering* More of the Dursleys in chap 17 (yeah, I know, that is still quite far away). Why Vernon and Petunia never got used to Milli? Simple: they hate her because she's a witch. Tissues were for Christmas, but I guess one of Harry's socks was for his birthday. Remember, the Dursleys usually forgot about Harry's B-day. Maybe Harry just reminded them of his birthday once and they said: 'oh, is it really your birthday? Okay, take these ugly socks, then!' :)) A third part? Well, maybe :) Sorry, I still don't have a scanner – you seem to be very curious about that pic, LOL ;-)

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LupinsLover: nappy, not diaper, I noted that :)

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teacherchez: no, I didn't mean to make Dudley a nice person – he just turned out to be one :) Draco saying that Lily would be a squib was just a Malfoy insult. When I wrote about that I wasn't planning on writing a sequel with a squib Potter baby, but when I started to write this fic, I remembered that insult and thought it was an interesting coincidence.

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ShortNSweet: third? Maybe. I'll try and read your fic as soon as possible, okay? :)

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AlanSmithy: you might be right about Ron, but I thought he had to be very angry with Herm that she didn't even ask for his opinion about going to Russia. About squibs and the parchment book – I think that the parchment book does not register squibs. Rowling said in an interview that it registered MAGIC children, and squibs ARE NOT MAGIC. The Longbottoms maybe didn't know about the book, so it never occurred to them to ask McGonagall whether Neville was in there or not.

And now, on to chapter four, enjoy and review!

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Chapter 4

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Frozen

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4th November

"How long until we get there, Hermione? Er, I mean… Professor Weasley?" Dennis Creevey asked, looking at the snowy landscape beneath their transport.

"Just call me Hermione, Dennis." she smiled. "I'm only three years older than you."

"But you're a professor." the boy reasoned, rubbing his arms.

"Are you cold?" Hermione asked. "I'll tell the driver to turn on the heat. Really, Minerva, where are we now?"

"Somewhere above Byelo-Russia, I guess. It's definitely getting colder by the minute. I don't even want to imagine what temperature will greet us at our destination…"

"Our destination… really, where exactly is it?" asked Graham Pritchard, a burly Slytherin.

"As you all know, Mr. Pritchard, the teachers of Hogwarts and Beauxbatons had to sign a statement of secrecy concerning the location of Durmstrang. Thus we are forbidden to tell anyone about it. Not even you, children."

"But it's in Russia, isn't it?" the Hufflepuff Eleanor Branstone wanted to know.

"Of course it's in Russia." murmured Malcolm Baddock, of Slytherin. "That's why it's so cold. That's why we had to bring such thick fur-coats. Though no one of us has such a cool coat like Mr. Potter's." he smirked at The Boy Who Lived, who didn't hear his remark.

Actually The Boy Who Lived now was The Boy Who Grieved. He did not grieve death or loss – still he felt that a part of him was lost, a part of him had died.

He was standing at the very end of the flying, red, double-decker bus, looking at the plane beneath the Hogwarts transport. (They couldn't use the Hogwarts Express to accomplish a journey from Great-Britain to Russia). He felt his heart was as cold as the snow-covered lands of Byelo-Russia.

The last two months were a pure torment for him – a torment that started on his birthday:

"It means… it means my son is… _a squib_." he breathed, slowly lifting his gaze to meet that of professor Dumbledore, as if waiting for him to say "no, Harry, I was just kidding."

But the old headmaster only nodded. "Right. He is a squib." 

Ginny let out a squeal.

"I'm sorry, Harry." McGonagall put her hand on Harry's shoulder.

"But, but it can't be true!" the young mother yelled hysterically. "You're mistaken! That must be a mistake!"

Minerva shook her head. "I'm truly sorry, Ginny."

"Why?" Harry asked. "And how?"

"I don't know the answer for the _why_, Harry." Dumbledore replied. "No one knows. _How_? Well… it just happens… it might happen in any wizarding family. Even in those with the longest line of witches and wizards… just like, um, Mr. Filch…"

"Don't compare my son to that… that…" Ginny burst into tears and buried her face into Harry's shoulder. 

"Can anything be done?" Harry asked. "Is there a way to…?" but he already knew the answer. If there was no magic in someone, then he could never become a wizard. 

The son of Harry Potter was destined to be a common Muggle.

* * * * *

"You don't mean it!" Ron gaped at his wife. "Daniel? Daniel Potter? A… _squib_???" he uttered the word "squib" with such disgust that it surprised even himself. "Is it possible that Dumbledore and McGonagall were wrong?"

"No." Hermione shook her head. "McGonagall told me about the Hogwarts parchment book. You know how it functions, don't you?" Ron nodded. "McGonagall checked the book one day after Dannie's birth, and he wasn't in there. There was a note of 20th July with the name of a young witch, then the next note was of 22nd July with the name of two new-born wizards. But Dan was born on the 21st. The magic quill simply skipped 21st July – no magical child in Great Britain was born that day."

"I can't believe it…" Ron scowled. "I mean… Harry is The Boy Who Lived! He defeated You-Know-Who at the age of one. Then he and Ginny defeated You-Know-Who last year again… and for good. Their child cannot be non-magic!"

"Unfortunately he can." Hermione replied. "I'm a Muggle-born witch. He is a wizard-born Muggle. But we'll still love him… won't we, dear?" she shot a demanding glance at Ron.

"'Course we will. He's my nephew, after all…" he sighed. "But it's so terrible… that it had to happen to Harry and Ginny… my best friend and my only sister… having a squib for a child is the greatest shame a wizard could suffer."

* * * * *

"Listen, Gin, it's not the end of the world." Harry took his wife's hand and squeezed it encouragingly. "It's not so terrible being a Muggle…"

"Not in the Muggle world, you mean." she whispered. She didn't even have the strength to speak aloud. Since 31st July – for two weeks – she had been lying in her bed, not eating, not wanting to see anyone. "But in the wizarding world it'll be hell for him, Harry. Seeing all the magic that he can't perform!"

"He could have other talents." her husband said. "Like… for music, or sports… or science…"

"He won't be a Hogwarts student! His sister will go to Hogwarts but he never will! Can you imagine how it'll hurt him?" she was close to crying again.

"No, he won't be a Hogwarts student." he nodded. "But I'm rich… we can afford to… he can study at St. Paul's, Harrow or Winchester… either of the Clarendon Nine… even at Eton. Then he could continue his studies at Oxford or Cambridge and become a barrister, a Queen's Counsel, or… even a Prime Minister!"

"I'd rather see him as Minister for Magic…" she smiled sadly. "You are so sweet, dear, trying to cheer me up, but you cannot."

"Then at least let me talk you into eating something." he suggested. "You have to regain your strength to be able to get up and fulfil your duties as a house-wife and mother."

"…mother…" she sighed. "Mother of a squib."

"Ginny… please, don't start that again." 

But Ginny didn't listen to him. Her condition got worse and worse. As summer turned into autumn, she seemed to gain a bit of strength, but only physically. Psychically she was still fragile. More fragile than ever.

The few times she left her room she headed for Lily's room. All her pride and happiness was the little girl – her little witch.

No one could say she was a bad mother, for she loved her daughter above all. Still, everyone could say she was a terrible mother, for she absolutely abandoned her son. As though she didn't have a son at all.

She didn't care to breastfeed him anymore, so her milk ebbed. Molly suggested Harry to bring Daniel to Fleur (who had returned to England with Bill on 1st August). Fleur still had lots of milk for two… and the little boy was left at the Burrow. 

Harry visited him every single day but never told Ginny about him, because he knew it would only hurt her and deepen her depression. The psychiatrist at St. Mungo advised Harry and all the Weasleys to avoid mentioning Daniel to his mother for a while. She needed lots of time to come to terms with the situation, and seeing the child every day wouldn't help the process – it would only slow it down.

Harry didn't oppose – he started to live a double life: one at home - the Black Manor, and the other at the Burrow.

He spent every morning with his son and every afternoon with his wife and daughter.

Ginny, by the end of September developed an attitude of excluding reality and had built up imaginary walls around herself – walls to separate her from what was outside. She simply repressed her negative feelings, thus she started to get cheerful again, greeting Harry every day with joyous kisses and playing a lot with Lily. Their marriage returned to the same it had used to be before Daniel's birth, with one exception: they didn't have carnal relations. Ginny seemed to have 'forgotten' that there was something called sex, and Harry didn't press her. He knew she needed time. He was positive, that as time passed, she'd heal psychically as well.

One day they decided to go shopping presents for the 29th wedding anniversary of Arthur and Molly.

They walked from shop to shop at Diagon Alley, trying to find the ideal present for the Weasley couple. 

Finally they entered a nice shop called _Moebels - Maker of Luxury Furniture since 503 A. D._

"Do you think they'd appreciate new kitchen furniture?" Harry turned to Ginny.

"Well, the old one is quite shabby." she shrugged. "I think they'd definitely like this one." she pointed at a set of pale blue kitchen furniture. 

"Now that the Weasleys have become wealthy, they got bored of their crappy old things, right?" they heard a drawling voice coming from behind their backs. 

"Malfoy." Harry crossed his arms. "I though you got too poor to be shopping in a luxury shop. Or have you just come in to feast your eyes on things you'll never be able to buy?"

"Ha-ha." Draco sneered. "You aren't even original… copying my style, Potter… anyway, don't ever think that I've become poor. I might have less money than I used to, but there are still some reserves…"

"And maybe you should consider starting to work." Harry added.

"Work??? A Malfoy?" Draco sounded incredulous. "Why aren't _you_ working, Potter? You have so much money that you don't need to?"

"I _will_ start working next summer." Harry replied coolly. "At Puddlemere United."

"Urgh." Draco commented. "I'm a Ballycastle Bats' supporter. Puddlemere sucks."

"Say whatever you want, Malfoy." Harry rolled his eyes. "Come on, Ginny, let's order this kitchen furniture and leave. I've had enough."

"Oh! I haven't even noticed you, Mrs. Potter!" Draco lied. "Is it true that you abandoned your son just because he's a squib?"

Ginny blanched.

"Shut up, Malfoy!" Harry clenched his fists.

"Why would I shut up? I want to tell you my opinion!" Draco retorted, turning to Ginny. "I want to tell you that I despise your behaviour! A mother leaving her child!"

"Hah! As you'd have the right to judge anyone's behaviour!" Harry yelled back. "Don't think you're any better!"

"I never said I was!" Malfoy said. "I just wanted to draw you attention to the gossips that you might not know about…"

"What gossips?" Harry demanded.

"Well… people say things… some say your son is dead. Some say you gave him away to a Muggle couple to raise… some say your wife's gone crazy and should be put into the lunatic ward of St. Mungo…"

"She isn't crazy and we didn't give our son away to some Muggles!" Harry shouted.

"But you _did _give him away to the Weasleys at the Burrow." Draco replied. "_You did give him away…"_

By that time Ginny was shaking, as white as a sheet. Malfoy's words had brought up memories and feelings she had deliberately suppressed. Emotions that now exploded out of her.

"You bastard!" she cried. "How dare you accuse us of having abandoned our son?" she clutched at Harry's arm, tugging it madly. "Harry, Harry, I want my son back! I want him back! I… I…" her voice faltered and she collapsed into arms.

"You can be very proud of yourself now, Malfoy". Harry growled.

"Proud?" Draco's eyes twinkled with mirth. "_You _should be proud… of being the father to the next Hogwarts caretaker!" the mirth suddenly disappeared from his face as Harry's right fist met with his left eye.

"You haven't become any better, Malfoy. It was stupid from me to believe you could change to the better. Not even your father's temporary madness managed to teach you a lesson." Harry spat, lifting the unconscious Ginny and leaving the shop without having ordered the present for Molly and Arthur.

* * * * *

After the incident at Moebels' furniture shop everything changed in the Potters' life. Ginny had come back to reality and suddenly got desperate to get her baby back. She didn't seem to care for his being a squib anymore, all that counted was that Dannie was her little son.

Harry couldn't thank God enough for giving him his beloved wife back. They brought their baby back from the Burrow, to Sirius' great happiness (he was not only Harry's godfather but Lily's and Daniel's, too).

The rest of October seemed like a fairy tale: the Potter family was together and the old Black Manor filled with laughter again.

Little Lily had learnt to walk (even wanted to try a broomstick ride but her parents didn't let her), and managed to utter her first word: "Arri!" (No, her first word wasn't 'mum' or 'dad', since she had always heard Sirius address her daddy as 'Harry'. Lily's next word was 'Ini', which stood for 'Ginny'.)

"I can't wait to hear her utter my name, too!" Sirius laughed as the little witch ran up to him. "So, when will you say 'Irius', my dear?" Lily didn't seem to care for her stupid godfather and decided rather to go and have a look at that cute dark-haired thingy that 'Arri' and 'Ini' always referred to as 'Dannie'.

So, peace and harmony returned to Black Manor and lasted for about three weeks. During these weeks Ron and Hermione visited the Potters on weekends.

Harry was glad to see that there was no grudge between his two best friends anymore about Viktor Krum. Ron seemed to have acquiesced in the fact that his wife was leaving soon for Russia, and also seemed confident that no Vicky Krum could make Hermione run away with him as long as she had a Weasley for a husband.

It was agreed that Mrs. Figg would take on Hermione's subject – Arithmancy – for the duration of the Tournament, and Dumbledore would go back teaching Transfiguration as he had done decades earlier. 

Harry wasn't sure anymore whether to accept the 'job' of a judge at the Tournament – he felt his family needed him the most at these times. He decided to write a letter to the Russian Ministry of Magic, politely turning down their offer. 

* * * * *

"I'm still wondering where exactly this Durmstrang is." Ginny said one night, right after Ron and Hermione had departed. 

"Yea, I'm also curious to know." Harry shrugged, pulling on his pyjama shirt. "But as you know, there are very few people who actually know where it is. Well… Hermione, McGonagall, and the driver."

"Driver?" she cast an inquiring look at him while brushing her long, red hair, sitting in front of her vanity table.

"Uh-huh, the driver of the school bus." Harry nodded.

"School bus???" Ginny turned around. "I never knew Hogwarts had a school bus."

"Of course you didn't, since the bus is brand-new." Harry stepped to her, taking her brush and continuing combing her hair. "Hermione told me about it yesterday. The Ministry of Magic gallantly bought a school bus for Hogwarts to have something to fly to Durmstrang with."

"Wow… I thought the Ministry was much meaner… how came they've become this charitable at once?"

"Simple: they want to show off." Harry grinned. "Remember the transports of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang five years ago… our dear Ministry thought Hogwarts needed something fashionable… something absolutely British. So they bought a double-decker London bus and asked your dad to make it fly and invisible for Muggles."

"Dad?" Ginny stood up, her face radiating pure curiosity. 

"Exactly. They knew that Arthur was professional at making Muggle transports fly…" he smiled at the memory of his and Ron's adventure with the Ford Anglia in second year.

Ginny giggled. "I hope the bus will last longer than the Ford or the Hogwarts students may find themselves drowned in the La Manche."

"Oh, Ginny…" he cupped her face.

"What?" she looked into his emerald eyes.

"I'm so happy that you are back to normal." he replied, caressing her cheeks with his thumbs. "I have my Ginny back." he leaned in to place a small kiss on her lips and she melted into his embrace willingly.

As he started to fumble with undoing the buttons of her night-dress, she suddenly recoiled. "No, Harry!" she pushed his hands away.

"Why not?" he frowned. "I thought we were a normal couple again…"

"We are, but… I need time…"

"More time? We haven't… haven't… since… March!"

"I know!" she turned her back on him, hastily doing up the buttons of her gown. 

"Ginny…" he gently placed a hand on her shoulder, only to be shaken off.

"I'm not ready, Harry!" she turned around to face him, her eyes full of tears.

"This is because of Daniel… isn't it?" he asked. "You're afraid."

"I'm NOT afraid!" she yelled at him.

"But you are!" he stepped to her, firmly gripping her arms and holding her in place. "You are afraid of giving birth to another squib! That's why you are turning me down!"

"Yes! YES! I admit it!" she cried. "Now what? Huh? Will you rape me?"

Harry released Ginny's arms as though he'd touched something hot, and stepped back.

"How… how in the world could you think of that?" he croaked. "For heaven's sake… I love you. I love you with all my heart and would never do anything to hurt you. You know it as well as I do… don't you?"

She couldn't stand his gaze, so cast her eyes down, sobbing and quivering. "Forgive me, Harry." she whispered. Harry wanted to walk back to her, to gather her into his arms and comfort her, but she didn't give him a chance to do so. "Forgive me, and go away." Ginny lifted her glance to meet his. "Go away, Harry. Please. Don't bring me into temptation… just go."

He wasn't sure he had heard her well – he was dumbstruck. All he could do was nod and pick up his pillow and blanket.

As Ginny heard the door close behind her back, she flung herself on the bed and just cried and cried.

* * * * *

Harry dropped himself into the armchair before the fireplace in the living room, stuffing the pillow behind his back, tucking himself in with the blanket. He tried to sleep, but couldn't even close his eyes. He gazed into the crackling flames, too tired to think, but too awake to sleep.

Suddenly he heard someone come downstairs. He jumped up, hoping to see an apologising Ginny, but it was only Sirius.

"Ah, hello, Sirius." he said and sat back into the chair, pulling up his legs. "What are you doing here at midnight?"

"I could be asking the same, young man." his godfather took place in the opposite armchair. "Dinky woke me up, nervously squeaking that master Harry and mistress Ginny were yelling at each other and I should come before something terrible happened."

"You shouldn't have bothered coming down. Nothing happened." Harry replied, looking into the flames again.

"And that is what bothers you, isn't it?" Sirius asked.

"What?" Harry blinked.

"That _nothing_ happened." the older man said. "Nothing has happened for months now. Right?"

"I never knew you've been giving this great attention to my sexual life." Harry furrowed his brow. "How did you know…?"

"It was obvious." Sirius shrugged. "It is recommended to avoid sexual activity at least for a month after a child's birth. That month ended on 21st August, but by then you had got to know about Daniel's problem and Ginny wasn't in either the physical or psychical condition to fulfil her duties as a wife. After that incident with Malfoy she began to heal, but… hey, I know what a guy looks like after a satisfying night, and you haven't looked like that for quite a while."

"It seems my life is an open book to you." Harry said, bending his chin on his knees. "You sometimes scare me, Sirius."

"Do I?" Sirius laughed. "Oh, maybe… I remember you falling off your broomstick when seeing me in my dog form…"

"That was six years ago." Harry pointed out. "But sometimes you still scare me. You're starting to be like Dumbledore… wise and everything."

"Don't tell me I'm getting old enough to be wise!" his godfather pretended to be shocked, making Harry's lips tuck into a small smile.

"Don't worry, Sirius… you look good for your age."

"Thanks." his godfather smirked. "And now tell me: what were you two shouting at each other?"

"Not much… I mean… nothing interesting. She told me to go away because I was too much of a temptation to her…" Harry replied bitterly.

"Nah! What are you telling there!? I wish a woman called me 'temptation' at last! But no… I haven't had… oh, forget it."

"Haven't had it for how many years?" Harry looked up.

"You'd only laugh at me." Sirius shook his head.

"I promise I won't."

"For eighteen years… tomorrow will be the eighteenth anniversary."

"Wow… you have a good memory." Harry commented. "Who was the fortunate girl?"

"Girl? Oh, no… it wasn't a _girl_."

"WHAT?" Harry gasped. "You can't be! Sirius! Tell me you aren't!"

Sirius started to laugh so hard that he almost fell off his chair. "You didn't let me finish the sentence, Harry. I wanted to say that it wasn't a _girl_… it was a _woman_. Some years older than me… very pretty…"

Harry let out a relieved sigh. "You really scared me, Sirius. Who was that _woman_?"

"Well, I just called her Rosie."

"Rosie?"

"You know her as Madam Rosmerta." Sirius grinned.

"What? You shagged the landlady of _The Three Broomsticks_?" Harry gaped.

"Yeah, she said she liked my _broomstick_." Sirius winked. 

"I see." Harry grinned. "Still… Madame Rosmerta… weird."

"I can imagine that." Sirius nodded. "But now, back to you, young man. So, Ginny said you were a temptation for her… but why is she upset about that? I thought you two had no problems in that area…"

"Of course we didn't… we are quite compatible in that area, and since I spent three months in India…" he suddenly stopped.

"Huh? What about you spending three months there?" Sirius asked with an arrested look.

"Ah, well…" Harry diverted his eyes, "I learnt a bit of Hindi and I accidentally dipped into… ehm… Kama Sutra."

Sirius burst out laughing, seeing his godson's furiously blushing face. "Then you definitely cannot have any problems in _that_ area." he stated.

"No, really not… not that way, that is." Harry sighed. "But in another way, we do. Ginny's scared. Scared to death that she'd conceive again… that she'd conceive another squib."

Sirius shook his head in disbelief. "Haven't you thought of protection?"

"Of course we did… actually we were using the _anti-conceptus charm_ and a certain birth-control potion last year before the wedding… she still got pregnant with Dan. We thought we might have forgotten it once, just for one occasion… I got really curious to know when we had forgotten it, so I cast a memory-sharpening spell on myself…" he looked away from Sirius, into the flames. "There was no occasion when we forgot it. The potion didn't work, neither the _anti-conceptus_ _charm_. Neither in Lily's, nor Dannie's case. Well, in Lily's case Ginny performed that spell a bit late, that's true... It seems Ginny and I cannot have sex without making a baby. And now she sacked me. Pleaded me: '_Go away, Harry. Please. Just go_.' Now be wise and tell me - what should I do, Sirius?"

"Well, _go_."

"Huh?"

Sirius reached into the pocket of his dressing-gown, pulling out a piece of paper. Harry took it and unfolded it. It was the letter Harry had written weeks earlier to turn down the request of the Russian Ministry of Magic.

"But… I've posted this letter a week ago." he mumbled.

"Um, let's say the letter got… intercepted." Sirius replied.

"_What have you done to my Hedwig_?" Harry demanded.

"Well…" his godfather avoided his glance, "she actually met a very handsome male owl called Henry and is um… occupied."

"You set my Hedwig up with an unknown owl???" Harry jumped up.

"Hey, hey, sit down and calm down." Sirius chuckled. "Believe me, she really likes Henry…"

"But we don't even know that Henry!" Harry scowled. "What is so funny?"

Sirius was laughing so hard again that his ribs threatened to break. "You know… you know Harry…" he wiped away the tears of laughter, "You totally sounded like a father now! As though Hedwig was your daughter! I don't dare imagine what you'll behave like when Lily will have a boyfriend… maybe you'd better send her into a cloister or something…"

"Ha-ha." Harry crossed his arms. "Really very funny. So tell me: why did you intercept my letter?"

"Because I saw something like this coming and thought you might need a break from home. Have a bit of fun, see the world, forget your problems. They'll wait for you until you come back, or even get solved by then…"

"But it's me who has to solve these problems! It's not right to wait for them to solve themselves! My family needs me!"

"Okay." Sirius heaved a deep sigh. "Let's start this from the beginning. Daniel is only three months old. The only person he needs now is his mother. Lily might be in a problematic age, but it's nothing Ginny, me and the whole Weasley family cannot handle together. And Ginny has just sacked you. Period. Forgot anything?"

"No." Harry replied, looking at the letter in his hand. With a flourish he dropped it into the flames. "Russia, beware, here I come!"

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"Hey! Are you all right?" Hermione asked, shaking Harry out of his reveries of the past two months.

"Huh?" he shuddered.

"We're almost there. Time to get your packages."

"Oh. Okay. I'll get them." he walked upstairs, grabbed his crate and walked back downstairs.

"Awww, look at that!" Eleanor Branstone pushed her nose to the window-pane, gazing mesmerised at the sight under the bus.

"Looks cool!" Dennis Creevey added. "Just like the beast's castle in Disney's Beauty and the Beast!"

"Whose what?" Graham Pritchard frowned.

"Never mind. Muggle stuff." Dennis shrugged.

The double-decker descended into the snow-covered valley, where a formidable-looking castle stood, nestled among mountains.

"Welcome to Durmstrang." Harry whispered to himself.


	5. Death Wish and Santa

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A/N: thanks for the reviews, people! It seems I managed to upset and depress you – what an achievement, LOL:) Imagine, on Saturday I was at the HP meeting – there were nine people (between 20-26 years) from a Hungarian HP web forum and we had lots of fun together. We were talking about the books and even played Activity ala HP. I was 'sorted' into Slytherin along with a boy and our team won the game – we knew the most about HP! So from now on: GOOOOO, SLYTHERIN! (just kidding:) Anyway, Gryffindor suffered a really shameful defeat :)

And now, comments to your comments:

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apple-pie: a sequel about the kids? Possible.

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momoko: life is never fair, sorry. But don't worry, Ginny'll be a wonderful mum to Dan.

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Kit Cloudkicker: I'm not forgetting you, but it's simply impossible for me to answer all my reviewers, please, understand :) If I answered everyone's reviews, the 'answer-section' would be longer than the actual chapter! Yes, you'll get to know about the 'blow', but a long way to go until then.

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The Face of Evil: I didn't mean that NO children were born in Great Britain on the 21st July – I meant that no MAGIC children were born that day.

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Moony Lover: are you from a Spanish-speaking country? No, they WERE having sex during their last year at Hogwarts, and they didn't do it just twice. When they had sex after Ginny got pregnant with Dan, she couldn't get pregnant again, of course. Why she got pregnant despite all the protection they were using will be revealed… at the very end of the story. *evil grin*

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Amaranta: maybe you still should try and write a fic and ask someone to correct your spelling mistakes. (If the fic you'd write wouldn't be long, then I would gladly do it for you.)

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X_Tow_Naga: why not using physical protection? Because they believed in the wizard protection, but that proved to be useless – and then it was too late, Gin was already pregnant. Just to inform you: I DO KNOW that it's a biological impossibility to get pregnant every time you have sex. It's a riddle why she got pregnant – a riddle that will be solved at the end of the story (yes, I'm that cruel, making all of you wait until then to find out why and how it happened:) Anyway, Harry and Ginny's discussion in last chapter took place at the end of October. They hadn't had sex since March (I presume Ginny was protective of the baby or something, though I know that people CAN have sex even in the ninth month of pregnancy – just it'd be a bit uncomfortable.) So there's nothing wrong with my knowledge on biology, I used to have wonderful marks in that subject, because I was really interested :)

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Harrysgirl: Lily is one and a half year old right now.

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LupinsLover: no I have never been to Russia, so everything I'll be writing about it, will come from stereotypes and clichés. Sorry. (Interesting, I never thought that I had a Russian reader as well!) Feel free to tell me if I write something silly about Russia – you might start it right after this chapter, because I used some food names that a Russian-speaking acquaintance told me about, but I'm not sure that I wrote them well :) Really could you help me bit? Tell me please, when exactly is the Orthodox Christmas? On the fifth or sixth of January?

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Hobbit Feet: Ginny'll get over this, of course. She started 'healing' after Malfoy's remark.

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LisaQT3: I absolutely agree with you – I know how mean and ooc Ginny was, but I wanted to show that she was really under shock and didn't know what she was doing. She really was insane for a while. The Muggle birth control didn't occur to them. Before Gin got pregnant with Dan they relied on the wizard methods and now Gin's simply too sad to have sex, I guess. Dan's being a squib has nothing to do with being conceived despite all the protection. It has to do with something else you'll find out later.

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Crazycutee831: read my answer to X_Tow_Naga and LisaQT3.

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Morning Twilight: I DO think there's something stopping a non-magical person riding a broomstick – at least I always thought that in order to be able to direct your broom, you need to have magic in yourself. I think Dudley, for example, would never be able to fly. I've checked out your site – I loved that little bouncing owl at the Virtual Hogwarts section! Very cute! No, David is an innocent little angel and won't bring about anything evil.

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JoeBob1379: more chapters than in TGSoHH.

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teacherchez: I think magic owls live quite long. (At least I don't want to see Hedwig die:)

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star queen: what will Harry do in Russia? Well, judge at the Triwizard Tournament, and other stuff as well. You'll see :)

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GinnyPotter387: why Gin suggested that Harry would rape her? She didn't mean it, of course, it was just a slip of the tongue – when you're upset and nervous, you say things that you don't mean at all. Of course she was totally aware that Harry would NEVER rape her. Sorry, you won't see the Dursleys for quite a while – they'll be back only in chapter 17.

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Ginny house 3: about your advice to Harry… you'll see, later. Of course I have thought of condoms, but he hasn't, LOL. He's become too much of a wizard and didn't think of the old Muggle ways :)

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Super saya-Jin Gotan: I'm glad you liked the Harry/Sirius discussion so much.

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Cassandra Anthemyst: you're not worried? You will be. You will be ;-)

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jeanine23Dr: no, I don't think I speak as well as I write, because I normally don't have much opportunity to talk to people in English, I can only write on the web, but not talk. I also think that my pronunciation is quite bad (but my mum's is even worse – I'm getting on her nerves, always correcting her pronunciation mistakes :)

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Aurumlupi: divorce? Don't think so.

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DragonSinger: in this story only the baby-years of the Potter kids, but I'm thinking of a third part about them as teens.

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K-K: of course I remember you! Dennis… shhh… I share your opinion :) About Gin's behaviour… read my answer to LisaQT3.

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Mikey: sorry, no set dates for updates. Usually in every 3-4 days. Well, Harry and Draco DID bury the hatchet, but something happened after that – you'll see in chap 7.

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Pumpkin3223: who is the writer of that series you like so much?

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HP Blone Crazy Chick: no Dursleys till chapter 17.

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AniMourner: I don't think Durmstrang is in Bulgaria. Remember, in book four it is mentioned for a couple of times that Durmstrang is in the far north (Bulgaria is in south Europe), and it's very cold there (in Bulgaria the climate is much warmer, IMHO). So I just put Durmstrang into Russia. We should maybe ask Rowling about this :)

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bucky: you wrote: "…poor Harry has gone thru enough." My comment: and you can't imagine what he's going to go through!

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Grizabella: no, Ginny won't hate Dan. About Durmstrang's situation, read my answer to Animourner.

And now… enjoy!

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Chapter 5

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Death-wish and Santa

With a thump the double-decker bus touched down onto the snow.

"Welcome to Durmstrang, terminus, please, don't forget to put on your coats before getting off, it's damn cold out there!" the driver's magically enhanced voice came over the microphone.

Professor McGonagall was the first to get off, followed by the dozen students and Harry, all of them carrying their luggage. Hermione was struggling with her own suitcase.

"Hey, give it to me, I'll help." Harry offered, and she willingly accepted his help. "Holy snitch, Herm, what have you brought in this? Bricks?"

"Oh, no, just my favourite books." she smiled at him and stepped down into the snow.

"Let me guess: Beautiful Bill's Biography, volumes I-IV." Harry grimaced.

"Exactly." she nodded. "I heard Dursmtrang's library wasn't too big, and I though they weren't likely to have any books from my favourite writer… ah, see, there's Viktor!"

Harry turned around to see two Durmstrang teachers walking up to meet them.

"Professor McGonagall?" Krum bowed slightly, kissing Minerva's hand. "A pleasure seeing you here."

"Has Beauxbatons arrived yet?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes, actually Madame Maxime and her students are already sitting in the hall, warming up." he turned to the Hogwarts students. "Welcome to Durmstrang! Let me introduce my deputy, professor Dimitriy Ivanovich. He teaches Charms." The Charms teacher gave the new-comers a smile. "Would you please follow him into the castle? It is quite cold out here."

"Of course." McGonagall and the students started for the castle, led by professor Ivanovich.

"Oh, wow, look at that!" Dennis Creevey yelled, pointed his index finger at a huge form that came into view as they approached the entrance of the building. 

"A Ukrainian Ironbelly!" Graham Pritchard clasped his hands in delight. "Beautiful, isn't he?" (A/N: for reference on the Ukrainian Ironbelly, see Fantastic beasts and where to find them.)

"It seems the kids like Vladi." Krum smiled at Hermione, then bent to kiss her hand. "Good afternoon, Hermione." 

"Hello, Viktor." she replied with a rather surprised expression. "You have learnt English perfectly!"

"I've been practising, Hermione."

"I used to love the name you were calling me." she grinned.

"Did you, Herm-own-ninny?" he smiled back at her.

"Vladi?" Harry interjected before Viktor could melt from Hermione's smile.

"Yeah, that's his name." Viktor pointed at the Ironbelly. "Vladimir, Durmstrang's pet dragon. He's extremely old, barely has any teeth left and cannot hurt anyone. In Karkaroff's time we used to have thirteen vicious dragons guarding the castle, but they aren't needed now. Since your wife rid the world of You-Know-Who we don't need to worry anymore that he might find the school."

"What?" Harry gaped. "I thought… Durmstrang…"

"You mean Durmstrang was infamous for turning out dark wizards and you automatically associated our students with You-Know-Who's followers. Right?"

"Um… sorry. Stupid prejudice." Harry shook his head.

"Never mind. It's over now." Krum stretched out his hand. "Thank you for coming, Harry." 

"Thank you for inviting me." he replied, shaking Viktor's hand.

"This way, please." Krum hold out his arm to Hermione, who took it without hesitation.

"So, it seems I'll be carrying the suitcase." Harry made another attempt of lifting it, but it was beyond his capabilities. Finally he simply whispered "_Wingardium Leviosa_!"

* * * * *

As they entered the castle, the first thing to catch their eyes was a huge statue of a woman, filling the whole space between floor and ceiling.

"That's the founder of Durmstrang, Natasha Yanska." Krum informed the guests.

"So, Durmstrang only has one founder, huh?" Harry asked.

"Yes. This way we don't have houses like you do at Hogwarts. There are only 600 students, mainly children of Slavic wizarding families – they come from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Ukraine and of course Russia. You may not think our castle is as comfortable as your Hogwarts, neither as warm, but I still hope you'll have a great time here." Krum carried on rambling while leading them into the hall where about a hundred small, round tables were standing, six students to each of them. At the middle of the hall, surrounded by the small, round tables, stood a long table for the teachers. 

Harry saw that Madame Maxime was already sitting there, looking rather unpleased by the prehistoric conditions of Durmstrang castle. She, being the headmistress of the distinguished Beauxbatons, was used to elegant baroque castles with lots of embellishments and fairy-lights illuminating the corridors and halls. Even Hogwarts was a sub-standard place for her folk, but now she and her students seemed to be downright disgusted by the circumstances that greeted them here. It was so cold in the hall that all the guests were sitting with their coats on. The Durmstrang students, of course, had already got used to the cold.

Krum led Hermione and Harry up to the staff table and showed them their places. 

Krum sat at the head of the table, Madame Maxime opposite him. (Durmstrang favoured French seating arrangements). On Krum's right sat professor McGonagall and on his left Hermione. On Madame Maxime's right was a place reserved for Harry, on her left there was an empty seat. Further alongside the table took place the other Durmstrang teachers, of whom Harry knew only one: the Charms professor, Dimitriy Ivanovich.

Before Harry took his place, his glance met with that of a female teacher, sitting on McGonagall's right. For a second he thought he had seen her somewhere before, but couldn't tell where. 

The dozen Hogwarts and Beaxbatons students sat down to the four round tables that were closest to the teachers' table. They were animatedly discussing the poor conditions of the castle when Viktor Krum stood up, silencing them all.

"First of all," he said, "Let me welcome our guests from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As you all know, it is a tradition that Beaxbatons, Hogwarts and Durmstrang organise the Triwizard Tournament every five years. Last time the Tournament took place at Hogwarts and ended with a tragedy: the death of one of Hogwart's champions. The winner was the other Hogwarts champion, who is now sitting among us – Harry Potter!"

A loud murmur ran down the hall – most students hadn't realised that it was Harry who entered the room with the headmaster. Now all eyes were fixed on him – eyes of students with their mouths agape. 

Harry, after all these years of fame still felt a bit uneasy when given this huge deal of attention. Hermione gave him an encouraging smile. 

"Looks like you cannot go anywhere without people gaping at you." she said. "And this particularly concerns the females…"

"Hermione…" he frowned.

"Just kidding." she whispered.

As the murmur died away, Viktor Krum continued his speech. "Mr. Potter kindly accepted to be one of the five judges during the tournament. As you know, Madame Maxime is going to be the second judge, Minerva McGonagall, deputy headmistress of Hogwarts will be our third judge and I will be the fourth." now he looked around, a bit nervous. "Um, has anyone seen the fifth judge?"

All students and teachers shook their heads. Harry supposed that the empty seat on Olympe's left had been reserved for the fifth judge who didn't deign to put in an appearance.

"Oh, well, I don't even know why I'm surprised by this…" Viktor turned to Harry. "He is always late… rather eccentric guy… hopefully he'll arrive soon – at least for the feast. He'd never miss a good opportunity to have a rich meal." 

"Reminds me of someone." Hermione murmured and Harry stifled a laugh. Hermione simply loved teasing her husband about always thinking with his stomach.

Viktor Krum, however, didn't bother to find out who she was referring to. He turned to the students again. "Back to the tournament… the Goblet of Fire is going to select the three champions Saturday evening and the first task will take place a month later, on 6th December. The set datum for the second task is 20th March, for the third one, 20th June. Having learnt from the last tournament, where Mr. Potter was accidentally selected champion at the age of fourteen, we have decided to lower the minimal age from seventeen to sixteen. If a fourteen-year-old managed to cope with the tasks, then hopefully sixteen-year olds will also be able to. The Ministry, with the active help of our fifth judge has prepared all tasks with great care, making sure that this time no one dies. The tasks will be dangerous, but accomplishable, and of course the judges will be around to help you, should you get into serious trouble. Until we wait for the fifth judge, we might as well eat." he clapped twice with his hands and food appeared before them on roughly carved wooden plates. "Tuck in!"

Harry was ravenous and helped himself to a huge heap of pirog (pasta with meat and cabbage), while Hermione cautiously took a sip of a strange-smelling drink – and spit it out a second later, coughing madly.

"Hey, Hermione! You all right?" Harry patted her back.

"What… was… that?" she croaked, wiping her mouth with a napkin. 

"Quas." Krum replied. "Local soft drink."

"Sooooft???" she groaned. "What is this quaff made of?"

"Quas. It's made of fermented bread and water. Very popular here."

"I bet it is." Hermione grimaced and reached out for a samovar. Tea couldn't do any harm, could it? 

As she delightedly sipped her tea, Krum turned to them, between two chunks of pirog. "And, Harry, Herm-own-ninny, what is it like to be married, huh?" 

"Very nice." the young woman replied. "Ron loves me and I love him. That's so simple."

Harry thought he saw an expression of annoyance appear on Krum's face, but even if it was there, it had gone before anyone could notice it.

"And you, Harry? I heard you had a daughter." the headmaster carried on with the small talk.

"Yes, actually I have a daughter." Harry nodded. "Her name is Lily."

"And he has a son, too." Hermione interjected.

Harry stiffened for a moment but nodded with a forced smile. "Yes. He is only three and a half months old, though."

"I bet you are very proud of your children." Krum smiled benignly. "I wish I also had one or two. But first I have to find the appropriate mother for them." he cast a side-glance at Hermione, who just waved.

"Oh, come on, Viktor, don't tell me it's so hard for you to find a wife! You're famous! I'm sure all girls would love to marry you."

"Uh-huh. Maybe." Krum reached out for his glass of vodka and took a huge swig. 

Before Harry could ask him about the tasks of the tournament, a dozen ghosts, all wearing fur-caps, glided into the hall through the walls.

Madame Maxime got so scared by their sudden appearance, that she spilt vodka all over her fine mink coat. "What iz zis, Monsieur Khrum?" she demanded.

"The folk-dance group I hired for tonight." Krum shrugged. "Ten of them are professionals, but two of them are our ghosts, see that one with the tiny moustache?" Olympe nodded. "Well, he is Yevgheniy Anegin. And that one on the right is Ivan Ilyich. The latter died a terrible death, better not talk about it… let the show begin!" he clapped once and two small creatures with thick fur ran into the hall, carrying balalaikas. 

"Pogrebins." Krum informed the guests. "Local demons. Some of them strangely have some artistic sense." (A/N: for reference on pogrebins, see Fantastic Beasts and where to find them)

The demons started playing on their instruments and the ghosts began dancing to Kalinka, a famous Russian folklore melody.

"Too bad the ghosts cannot eat or drink." Krum whispered to Hermione. "Dancing Kalinka is usually accompanied by a vodka-drinking contest, but these ones here… once I heard some of them invisibly visited the royal ball of tsar Michael II, and started drinking vodka. No one of the Muggles there understood how the floor got slippery with alcohol. No one admitted having spilt the drinks all over the dance floor and they never found out it were ghosts trying to drink. You know… the drinks simply ran through them…"

"Must have been fun for the ghosts, huh?" Harry smirked.

Hermione enjoyed the ghosts' performance so much that she stood up at the end, clapping enthusiastically. Harry didn't want to show lesser enthusiasm, so he also stood up, applauding.

Suddenly the music stopped. At first no one understood why the musicians dropped their balalaikas and why they headed for the staff table.

No one understood it either, why they lunged at Harry, knocking him off his feet.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Hermione yelped as Krum and another male teacher ripped the pogrebins off Harry's chest.

"Why did you attack him?" Krum growled.

The two demons started babbling something and kept frantically pointing at Harry.

"What are they saying?" Harry asked, standing up.

"Your coat." Viktor replied.

"What?"

"You are wearing their cousin and uncle."

"WHAT???" Harry blinked.

"Your coat is made of the fur of their relatives. They got a bit nervous when they saw it on you."

"Oh. I'm sorry." Harry apologised. "This was my birthday-present from my wife. No idea where she bought it, but tell the demons that they can be sure that neither my wife nor I killed their father-in-law."

"Cousin and uncle, but never mind." 

"Um, Harry?" Hermione spoke up. "I fear I'm the culprit."

Young Potter looked at his sister-in-law with great interest.

"I mean… I bought that coat when I spent a day at St. Petersburg during the summer. Ginny told me she had no idea at all what to give you for your birthday, so I thought she'd be happy if I brought this coat."

"Oh, well… I guess we cannot give these folks their relatives back, can we?" Harry mused.

"No Green Flame Torch this time." Hermione shook her head.

"Never mind, Harry." Krum said. "They'll calm down… hopefully… but in the future I'd really watch my step if I were you."

"What do you mean?" Harry and Hermione asked in unison.

"Vindictive creatures, pogrebins. You have a death wish, mate."

"Oh, cool." Harry grimaced, watching as professor Ivanovich and two other teachers carried the demons out of the room. 

Afters the ghosts departed, the guests finished their meals, still without the fifth judge. 

"I think there's no use waiting for him any longer." the headmaster told Olympe Maxime and McGonagall. "I suggest you go to bed now – must have had a tiring day behind yourselves."

"Oh, vairy much so, Monsieur Khrum." Madame Maxime nodded. "My students need sleepin' an' a nice wharm bed."

"I cannot guarantee the warmth, only the bed, I fear, but I promise that we'll do everything in our power to make your stay enjoyable." Krum bowed slightly in Olympe's direction. "Let me show you to your rooms, ladies."

McGonagall and Maxime stood up to follow Viktor. "Professor Letaieff, our Flying teacher, here will show your students their dormitories. Oh, Herm-own-ninny, Harry, would you also follow me, please?"

As they walked past the staff table, Harry felt the stare of that woman on himself again. He decided not to show that he had noticed her gazing at him, but as they exited the hall, he turned to Krum: "Who was that female teacher with the long black hair and pointed purple hat?"

"Professor Tatyana Fiodrovna. Potions teacher. The best at potions-making, if you ask me. She could easily beat your professor Snake."

"Snape." Harry and Hermione replied in unison.

"Whatever." Viktor waved.

Professor Ivanovich hurried past them with the two pogrebins in the hand. He opened the door of the entrance hall and kicked the demons out into the snow.

"Hey, that's rude!" Harry said. "They didn't do anything bad, after all… I'd also be mad if I saw someone wearing Sirius' scalp, for example."

The two demons' landing in the snow was indicated by two muffled thuds. Suddenly a louder thump followed, accompanied by the ringing of sleigh-bells.

Harry and Hermione exchanged surprised looks when the door of the entrance hall burst open, admitting a figure cowered with snow.

"Bloody reindeers!" he cursed. "That Rudolph couldn't wait a single day to catch a cold! No! He had to fall ill today! On the day of the great feast! That's my ill-luck!" he dusted snow off his ruby-red coat and white beard.

Strangely to Harry, he was cursing in English, with a rather unmistakable British accent.

The Santa-looking guy, after having wiped his coat clean, hurried up to Viktor Krum.

"I'm sorry for being late! Is anything left of the food… at least in the kitchen?" his voice sounded hopeful, his blue eyes glinted impishly. If he had been a bit slimmer, he would have been a spitting image of…

"Dumbledore." Harry whispered.

The old chap must have had very good hearing, since he looked at the young man with a broad smile. "Harry Potter, right?" he shook Harry's hand with such a fervour that Harry feared he'd rip it off. "Splendid, just splendid. I heard a lot about you… Harry Potter this, Harry Potter that… But I guess you deserved your fame, young man. Well done, well done, a real hero, eh? And you," he turned to professor McGonagall, "must be the charming Minerva." he gripped McGonagall's hand and pressed a smacking kiss on it. "If the rumours are true, you are just as clever as pretty." he winked at her and turned his attention to Madame Maxime, while Minerva wiped her hand on her robes with a rather disgusted look on her face.

"Who… who is this man?" Hermione whispered to Viktor while the enthusiastic fellow was wooing Olympe. 

"Yes, Mr. Krum, who is this… this… _man_?" McGonagall asked.

"He strangely resembles professor Dumbledore." Harry commented.

"No wonder he does." Krum shrugged. "They are brothers. This is Aberforth Dumbledore."

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A/N2 + Disclaimer 2: Ivan Ilyich belongs to Leo Tolstoy and Anegin belongs to Puskin. (They must be rolling in their graves now that I'm using their characters as Durmstrang ghosts:)

I decided to 'teach' Vicky to speak English in a normal way – his old way of speaking really irritated me and it was simply tiresome to always write 'vot' instead of 'what' and stuff like that. (Originally I started writing him that way, but I stopped because I had enough.) The only thing I kept from his old way of speaking is 'Herm-own-ninny', because that's a classic :)

Now, please, review!


	6. McGonagall's Grudge

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A/N: thanks for all the reviews, people! First of all: let me wish you a HAPPY EASTER! (at least to those who celebrate it :)

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Mikey: sorry, I didn't know how to write pierogies. Did I forget the Polish? Uhhh, sorry! I feel really ashamed, I shouldn't have forgotten you, given the old friendship between Poland and Hungary… stupid me! About Dumbledore's brother – Albus says the following in GoF, chapter 'Rita Skeeter's Scoop': '_My own brother, Aberforth, was prosecuted for practising inappropriate charms on a goat. It was all over the papers, but did Aberforth hide? No, he did not! He held his head high and went about his business as usual! Of course I'm not entirely sure he can read, so that may not have been bravery_.' Anyway, I kind of taught Aberforth to read, I thought he had to be able to read in order to learn all the magic, didn't he?

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The Face of Evil and _Kit Cloudkicker_: read my answer to Mikey.

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X_Tow_Naga: fighting between Albus and Aberforth? Hm, you'll see :) No, Harry doesn't feel comfortable in the skin of a sentient creature, but he isn't going to buy a new fur coat, of course. Even if the Russian government didn't have ministries, there could be a Russian Ministry of Magic – why not? I didn't say the British government had any role in organising the Triwizard Tournament. The Russian Ministry of Magic did it (but everything isn't settled yet, so Harry will help a bit, you'll see). All the British Ministry of Magic did was buy a school bus for Hogwarts. Why not 14 year olds? Because I think they are still too young – Harry is Harry, of course, thus he was an exception, but remember: he wouldn't have been able to go through the tasks, had he not been helped by Moody. According to Rowling, Albus is 150 years old in book one, so now he is about 160. I suppose that his brother is at least 20 years younger. (I decided that he is twenty years younger). Rowling also said that wizards lived much longer than Muggles.

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jeanine23Dr: Latin? Where are you from?

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Notebook Girl: Krum will be trying, of course… you'll see :)

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LisaQT3: Tatyana… you'll get to know all about her in time. No, Aberforth isn't Santa, just likes dressing up like him :)

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LupinsLover: thanks for your help – now I will have to re-write the whole Christmas chapter :( Anyway, don't feel offended, but I like calling the dragon Vladi, so I'm not going to change it. I used some of the meals you mentioned – thank you very much. It is a bit of problem for me not to call the professors 'professor's, so in some cases they remain Professor XYZ, because I don't want to make up names and middle names for every single Russian character. I hope you don't mind. Don't expect anything bad in connection with Aberforth – he's a charming guy (IMHO). Oh, could you help me with another thing? How do you spell the name of those typical Russian dolls that don't have arms and legs, can be taken apart and have smaller dolls in them? Are they called matrioshka?

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zzxm: Albus only said he wasn't sure whether Aberforth could read – I think he should know how to read in order to learn magic, right? I suppose he had to be at Hogwarts where he had to study from books :)

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bucky: don't worry about Harry getting none. (There's still something called condom, LOL:)

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ILOVELINKINPARK222: oh course I remember you, what made you think that I didn't?

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Nikkianna: no, the weird teacher isn't in love with Harry. Yes, there is something MORE going on here – or rather will be going on :)

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GinnyPotter387: actually Harry is still hurt by the fact that his son is a squib – he just wanted to show Ginny that he didn't mind – while he DOES mind. You know, he wanted to seem strong and everything, however, even he isn't that strong. More about it later.

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Crazycutee831: I don't think that Hermione had ever been Vicky's girlfriend. Viktor wanted that, of course, but Herm never really liked him. Of course you'll see more of Ginny, but not right now. (Don't worry, she'll remain a main-character.) About Aberforth read my answer to Mikey and zzxm. Well, I don't think the judges have to be ministry members by all means. Anyway, Aberforth has good relations with the Russian Ministry of Magic – he'll talk about it in this chapter.

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Almah: read my answer to Mikey and zzxm.

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Artesima: updating? Twice a week, usually in 3-4 days. Thanks for finally reviewing :) And no, I'm not going to tell you what is going to happen to H and G.

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AmandaPanda: Aberforth on the Dark Side? Noooo! Yes, he's the guy with the goat.

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Mage: can't answer either of your questions. Sorry :(

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star queen: no, I'm not going to write J/L fics, because I don't want to make up stories about the past, only about the future.

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Rab: Ivan Ilyich's death? Well, read Tolstoy's _'The death of Ivan Ilyich'_, LOL. (it's a terribly boring and depressing book, I had it as a set book in the high school, yuck! I'm kind of taking revenge on Tolstoy in this fic :) Anyway, I'll be referring to Ivan's death. In which chapter will the Potter kids meets David? Well, 17, I guess.

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Irish Immortality: you'll get to know everything about the mystery woman in time.

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Sean Mulligan: There's nothing wrong with Slytherin. My second choice for a house would be Slytherin, after Gryffindor, of course. I've read the first four chapters of J. L. Matthew's story, but I realised that there was no Harry Potter in the fic at all!!! I never read HP stuff if there's no HP. And I don't like stories in which the most of the main characters are made up by the author – for example Luella, Marlene, Rianna, Deanna and the other girls. Sorry, I don't want to offend you or your 'idol', J. L. Matthews, she still can be a wonderful author, maybe it's just me who doesn't like Harry Potter stories that aren't about Harry Potter.

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Owl Twrite: how long until the entire fic is uploaded? Well, months… it may take until July or something.

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Ronniekin's Sweetheart: I'm glad you don't really hate me :)

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PepsiAngel: have I really helped you develop your writing skills? Wow, I would never have thought! *AgiVega congratulating herself*

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Ginny house 3: you said you didn't understand the chapter title – "Santa" referred to Aberforth, who arrived on a sleigh, had reindeers and wore red robes just like Santa. Harry has taken your advice and will be sending his wife an owl.

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LilGinny: so, you already like Aberforth? Good, then you'll definitely become an Aberforth fan – I myself enjoyed writing him the most of all characters :)

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Scratches: what does *XD* mean?

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apple-pie: yes, the pogrebins will have a role later as well. About the potions teacher… be patient, you'll get to know everything about her.

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thebiggesthpfan: I always have something up my sleeve :)

Okay, enough of me, enjoy!

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Chapter 6

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McGonagall's grudge

Harry couldn't believe that there could be two brothers so alike and so different at the same time. He hadn't had time to really get to know Aberforth Dumbledore that night, but the first impression suggested that Aberforth was just as eccentric as Albus – but in an annoying way.

After having improvised Madame Maxime a self-written poem about her beauty, Aberforth deigned to give some attention to Krum as well – but his attention only concerned asking Viktor about his room and dinner.

Finally he noticed Hermione, too, and that was the point when Harry felt that he'd either yell at him that: "enough is enough!" or start rolling on the floor laughing. Aberforth, namely, dropped to his knees, grabbed Hermione's hand and proposed to her.

She blushed and muttered that she already had a husband, only making Aberforth stand up, wink at her and say: "Shame that polyandry isn't exercised in civilised worlds, my dear."

McGonagall rolled her eyes, her lips silently moving – Harry assumed she was praying to God to rid them of this lunatic.

They got to their rooms shortly before midnight. 

Harry, Hermione, McGonagall and Abertforth's rooms were on the same floor, Madame Maxime's was one floor under them.

Harry was very grateful to the Durmstrang house-elves (or whomever who looked after the castle) that there was a workable fireplace in his room.

At last he could take off his fur-coat (before hanging it into the wardrobe, he looked around to make sure that no pogrebins were lurking in his room).

When he was totally certain that he was alone, he dropped himself into the bed and fell immediately asleep.

* * * * *

It was about five in the morning when he was awoken by someone loudly singing "Good morning, sunshine".

He groped around for his glasses, put them on and – still half asleep – stumbled to the door. Barely had he opened it when a ruddy face appeared in the door-frame.

"Aaaa-berforth?" Harry yawned.

"That's right, kid!" the old man slapped him on the shoulder so hard that he almost fell. "Just been out for a nice run."

"Run?" Harry blinked.

"Yes, nothing like a run in the snow before sunrise, barefoot!" Dumbledore's brother replied.

"Barefoot?" Harry suddenly felt very awake, his gaze wandering down to Aberforth's feet. He really wasn't wearing any type of shoes or boots. 

"Exactly. Makes a man healthy and resilient to all diseases! Well, of course at first you have to count with a couple of flues, pneumonia, even frequent visits to the bathroom, but believe me, it's worth it! My reindeers earlier catch a cold than me!"

"Um, Aberforth, do you really travel by a flying sledge?" Harry asked.

"Well, actually I do."

"And… may I ask what you are doing here in Russia? I thought you lived in Great Britain."

"I used to live there, kid, but that was decades and decades ago. You know, something unpleasant happened and I decided to leave."

"Oh! The inappropriate charms on a goat!" Harry nodded.

"Goat? Er…" Dumbledore laughed. "You know, the journalists pretty eagerly packed the papers with articles on me and the goat, that's true, but I never really cared for it. The real reason… well… Albus and I had a row. That crazy old scoundrel… why do you think he didn't want to come and represent Hogwarts? He knew I'd be here… oh, never mind." he sighed. "So, after the row I left the country and made a journey around the world. I visited all places you could think of, from the Easter Islands to Las Vegas, and finally I came to live in Russia. A couple of years ago I happened to save the Minister for Magic from a pair of rampaging graphorns. To show how grateful he was, he gave me this sledge with eight reindeers and now he asked me to be one of the judges which I gladly accepted. That's my story, boy. Shall we go down to the kitchens and nick some pre-breakfast food and talk? I hope I can count with your help in the organisation of the tournament."

"Oh, of course you can. That's why I'm here." Harry replied.

"No, actually you're here because you've been invited as the guest of honour."

"But I don't want to be just that. I'd like to help you. I want to be useful."

"Don't like idleness, do you?" Aberforth grinned at him. "I know the feeling. Well, dress up and we'll discuss the first task, okay?"

"Okay, see you at breakfast." Harry replied.

Harry closed the door and heard Aberforth singing a Tiroler yodel. Five seconds later he heard a door creak open and the screeching voice of an infuriated McGonagall shriek:

"Are you crazy, man? It's five in the morning! How can you think of yodelling?"

"Oh, extremely sorry, charming lady." Dumbledore's voice sounded apologetic. "I never wanted to disrupt your sleep, madam."

"Still you did!" she spat.

"Should I sing you a lullaby so that you can go back to sleep?" Aberforth suggested.

"Lullaby? Do you think I'm a baby or what?" 

"Well… if you insist I could call you 'baby', Minerva…"

"You… you impudent brute!" Minerva shouted and banged the door closed.

Harry couldn't go back to sleep after the incident at dawn. It was still dark out there, but he lit a candle and started writing a letter to Ginny.

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My dearest Ginny,

We've arrived at Durmstrang without any difficulties. The castle is a bit smaller than Hogwarts and much creepier. Not to mention how cold it is. Without the fur-coat you gave me, I'd surely catch a cold – oh, imagine, I almost got killed because of that coat! Remember telling me about the pogrebins? Well, two of them recognised my coat as their uncle and cousin's fur. We have seen ghosts dancing Kalinka and drunk vodka (I think I'd rather stick to butterbeer).

The greatest sensation (or should I say disaster?) of the day was the arrival of the fifth judge, who – you won't believe me – is Dumbledore's brother, Aberforth! He is rather… strange. If I didn't know Albus Dumbledore, I'd think his brother is totally crazy, but knowing Albus I can only say that Aberforth is only a bit stranger than him. Anyway, he can sing wonderfully. 

I can't wait for the Goblet of Fire to select the champions, and I'm also very excited about the tasks. I guess Aberforth will tell me about them today, and I'll help him and Viktor with the arrangements.

I hope you and the children are all right. Give my regards to Sirius.

love,

your Harry

* * * * *

Breakfast would have been pretty uneventful, had it not been disrupted by a loud bang coming from outside. Every student ran to the windows to peer down into the park and started to giggle in chorus.

Harry and Hermione also got curious and hurried to the windows, followed by Viktor Krum.

"Oh, no!" Krum groaned, slapping his forehead.

"What happened?" professor McGonagall, with her always strict face, asked.

"Better see it for yourself." the headmaster replied.

McGonagall gazed down into the park, then took off her rectangular glasses, cleaned them and put them back on. She blinked, took them off again, knitting her eyebrows.

In the garden before Durmstrang castle, there was Vladimir the dragon standing, wearing a bowler hat, bow tie and tuxedo. He was holding a huge bouquet of roses in one of his small front paws. In his other hand there was a huge board with the words 'I BEG YOUR PARDON, MINERVA' written on it. The snow around Vladi was molten and smoking. Aberforth Dumbledore was standing next to the dragon, waving frantically as he saw McGonagall appear in the window.

"This man should be put into a lunatic asylum." Minerva shook her head and turned away from the sight.

"Bet Aberforth likes her." Harry whispered to Hermione. "I have to tell this to Ginny." he hurried up into his room to add a postscript.

After having finished the letter, he tried to find his way to the owlery to find an owl to carry it to England. He didn't have Hedwig with himself, since Sirius had set her up with a male owl called Henry, without asking for Harry's consent. 

It took Harry half an hour to find the owlery, but on his way back he hopelessly got lost.

On a corner he bumped into (or rather walked through) Yevgheniy Anegin's ghost, who only snapped "How impolite!" at him and glided away.

Three floors and sixteen staircases later he asked Catherine the Great (the inhabitant of a large painting on the third floor) how he could find his way back to the hall or his room. Catherine, who was deeply immersed in brushing her long brown hair, seemed rather reluctant to give him instructions. She placed a diadem on her head and told him that one of her lovers was waiting for her at a ground-floor painting, so she had to hurry. And with that, she left.

"Lost, Mr. Potter?" came a voice from behind his back.

He turned around to see the same woman who had been watching him during previous evening's feast.

"I fear so." Harry nodded. "Professor Fiodrovna, if my memory serves me well."

"Exactly, Mr. Potter." she smiled at him – a cold smile it was. "Just to inform you, here in Russia no one calls anyone professor – call me Tatyana Fiodrovna… Could I help you find your way back to your room?"

"Yes, that would be nice."

"Or rather… I'll take you to the second floor where the headmaster is right now giving the grand-tour to the other guests. You missed the beginning. Follow me."

Harry let the woman lead him through a maze of corridors. She didn't seem to be a talkative person, but Harry tried to start a conversation, no matter what.

"Um, professor er, Tatyana Fiodrovna, the headmaster mentioned to me that you were teaching potions."

"That's true." she nodded, barely looking back at him.

"He also told me you were a wonderful teacher… my potions teacher wasn't. I mean I'd never question his competence in the area of potion-making, but he is just not the teacher type. A teacher who hates children should never teach, in my opinion."

"Had my headmaster shared your opinion, I would have been fired long ago." she replied coldly. "There. You can already see them." she pointed at the group of Krum, Hermione, McGonagall, Olympe and the Hogwarts and Beauxbatons students.

"Thanks." Harry said, but she had vanished.

"Oh, Harry, you're here at last!" Hermione beckoned him to the group of guests. "Viktor has just showed us the staff room and now we are going up into the astronomy tower that is combined with the owlery."

"What? I've just come down from there!" Harry groaned. "Oh, well, let's go."

And they went.

In the astronomy tower they got to know Professor Zwezda, astronomy teacher, who couldn't be older than twenty. She cast a curious glance at the newcomers, and her eyes finally stopped on a young blonde man from Beauxbatons. She let out a dreamy sigh. The young man looked good. Way too good. However, the young man didn't care for her – he, as all the guests – only cared for the view. From the tower they had a wonderful view of the Durmstrang grounds.

"I see Vladi!" Dennis yelled. "Hey, Vladi!" the students started to wave at the dragon.

"No use, kids, he is almost deaf." Krum said.

"I see you also have a lake." Harry perceived, looking at a small round lake near the edge of the pine-forest. 

"Yes, actually we do. The ice layer is thick enough to skate on it, so I suggest we try it tomorrow. It'll be Saturday, after all."

"All right. I haven't skated yet and always wanted to try." Harry nodded, then stepped closer to Viktor, whispering: "But only if Aberforth doesn't come. He is dangerous enough without skating shoes on."

"I share Harry's opinion." Hermione smiled. "And Viktor…" she said with an almost inaudible voice, "Convince Madame Maxime _not to_ try to skate with us. I believe the ice is thick, but not _that_ thick."

* * * * *

The rest of the day dragged by and everybody had the feeling that someone had deliberately slowed down time. Everyone was on tenterhooks to get to know the names of the three champions.

The only persons enjoying themselves were Harry and Aberforth who spent hours talking about the tasks. Harry told the old man his own experience with the tournament, that – in Aberforth's opinion – was very useful, especially concerning security. This time there could be no dangerous portkeys and no traitorous teachers. The two men drew sketches of the three places where the tasks were to be accomplished and drew signs on the 'map', indicating the places where security charms needed to be implemented. Harry – this time not being participant but organiser of the tournament - enjoyed thinking up all the security measurements. He hoped that the three champions wouldn't get into trouble this time. The Triwizard Tournament needed to be exciting, but not dangerous.

Next morning the dozen students of Hogwarts, Beaxbatons and all volunteering Durmstrang pupils who had already reached the age of 16, placed their names into the Goblet of Fire.

Krum took a leaf out of professor Dumbledore's book, drawing an age-line around the Goblet – and this time no one needed to be thrown out of it – Durmstrang didn't have any Fred and George Weaselys, after all.

Aberforth couldn't be seen during the morning, to everyone's great satisfaction. 

Harry enjoyed skating thoroughly, although he slipped and fell a couple of times. He expected his knees to be blue and green with bruises by the evening.

Hermione decided not to skate, so she rather built a snowman with Natalie McDonald and Eleanor Branstone. The snowman got a nice carrot for a nose, a shabby old, pointed wizard hat and an old, useless broomstick that didn't have enough magic in it to fly anymore. The snowman got the name Ronniekins. Next to Ronniekins, Olympe also built a snowman – a twelve feet high one – named Rubie, after Rubeus. Rubie even got a beard of wood-shavings. 

"Come on, professor McGonagall!" Harry yelled to Minerva, who was standing on the shore of the lake, shivering in her thick coat. "Come onto the ice and skate a bit! It'll warm you up very nicely!"

"But Mr. Potter…" Minerva shook her head. "I couldn't imagine myself on those ridiculously thin pieces of metal. No, I'm old for this."

"Old?" Krum laughed. "You are young and fit, professor! Prove us!"

"I bet she's chickened out." came a voice from behind her. She turned around to see Aberforth, wearing skating shoes and a wicked smile. 

"I haven't chickened out." she put up her nose, and tapped her boots with her wand. Her boots immediately turned into skating shoes, and she almost fell. Somehow she managed to balance herself and stumbled onto the ice. "Who's chickened out, Mr. Dumbledore?" she snapped and found herself on her butt in the next instant.

Aberforth slipped to her, elegantly stopped and offered a hand to pull her up.

She didn't take it.

"I can get up alone, if I want to, Mr. Dumbledore." she gritted her teeth and stood up, wiping snow off her coat.

"Are you sure you don't want to go off-ice? It seems to be rather dangerous for an old lady." he put an emphasis on the word 'old'.

"Who's old?" she hissed. "Albus told me his brother was twenty years younger than him, so you must be about 140! And you dare call me _old_?"

"Now, now, sister…" he smiled.

"Sister???" she cried. "I'd truly feel compassion for any woman related to you!"

"Aren't we a bit premature with these assertions, dear Minerva?" he grinned. "You might become my relative, after all!"

"I have no idea what you are talking about, you crazy old brute!" she retorted and turned on her heels to glide off the ice – only to find herself on her butt again.

"Skating is clearly not your sport." Aberforth perceived. "Maybe you should try something else… say, chess."

"I bet I'm much better at chess than you are, Mr. Dumbledore." she spat and tried to stand up.

"May I help you?" Aberforth asked.

"No."

"May I help you?" Harry asked.

"Yes, thank you." McGonagall accepted Harry's offered hand and let him lead her off the frozen surface of the lake.

As McGonagall headed for the castle, Harry's glance fell upon a window of the Western Tower. A dark shadow – that had been standing at the window – now vanished. Nevertheless, Harry was sure whom the shadow belonged to.

"Hey, what are you looking at like that?" Krum asked.

"I just thought I saw Professor Fiodrovna." Harry shrugged. "Um… is she always so… bitter?"

"Quinine couldn't be bitterer than that ugly old rook!" came the unasked comment of Aberforth.

"But… she isn't old at all." Harry said. "Neither ugly." 

"Well, maybe not that ugly." Dumbledore shrugged. "But still… there's something creepy about her. I've been trying to persuade our friend, Viktor, to sack her, but he insists that she's a very competent teacher. Codswallop. I tell you, kid, women of this sort never do good to anyone. Dangerous beasts."

"I only wonder why she became so cold." Harry replied.

"Cold? Grave understatement! She's so frigid that polar bears start to shiver at the pure sight of her! Not to mention that blood freezes in my veins whenever she looks at me. I tell ya, nothing but a good kiss could warm up this icicle of a woman! But who the hell would kiss her?"

"Yeah… who'd kiss her?" Harry echoed Aberforth's words.

* * * * *

Tatyana Fiodrovna furrowed her brow, looking at her crystal orb. "One of them has to be the one…" she whispered, seeing the orb glow. "This is the sign… the _Spheara Inferi_ cannot be wrong… it started to glow when the Hogwarts guests arrived. One of them will help me… finally, the time has come!" she stepped back to the window, looking once more at the cheery crowd on the lake's surface. "I just hope that _the one_ is a male. If it's a female, then I can't do anything… Please, let it be a male!"

* * * * *

As Harry and the others entered the castle, they saw a pudgy little man madly swinging his wand, fervently cleaning everything in the entrance hall.

"That's Andrey Alexeyevich Stahanov, our caretaker." Krum replied. "A bit over-enthusiastic guy, but at least he's not a squib like your Filch."

Harry flinched and hoped that Krum didn't notice it.

"There is a squib in the castle – he helps the house-elves in the kitchen and takes care of Aberforth's reindeers in the stalls…" Viktor carried on.

"C'mon, let's go up and change." Hermione cut in to stop Viktor rambling about squibs. It was hard enough for Harry without having to hear it every day. She squeezed Harry's arm with a benign smile and he felt grateful to Hermione for her encouragement. She always knew how to cheer him and Ron up… just this one thing – his son being a squib, and always being reminded of it – was a problem that not even Hermione could solve.

Andrey Alexeyevich Stahanov must have done a thorough work, because the great hall looked perfectly clean – much cleaner than it looked on the evening of their arrival.

Dinner – Selidka fish, potatoes and pickled gherkins - was delicious, and Harry didn't even mind drinking vodka – he started to get used to it. Hermione, on the other hand, insisted on drinking tea.

Finally the great moment had come: the remains of dinner had vanished from the plates and everyone's eyes fixed on the Goblet of Fire, waiting with bated breath.

Krum spoke up: "In a couple of minutes the goblet will choose the three – and this time I hope really _only three_ – champions. I ask the chosen ones to kindly gather in the adjacent room where they'll get their instructions about the first task."

Harry cast a side-glance at McGonagall, who was wringing her hands in nervousness.

The Goblet's flames turned red, and the first parchment flipped out of it.

Krum caught the parchment in mid-air, cleared his throat and read aloud:

"The champion of Beauxbatons is Guillaume Etienne Pierre Louis… my, what a name… um, Louis Eugéne de Lochar."

Everyone clapped politely and Harry saw that Madame Maxime looked very satisfied.

As Guillaume Etienne Pierre Louis Eugéne de Lochar rose to his feet, Harry gasped – he hadn't given much attention to this boy before, but now he did, for the Beauxbatons champion looked a spitting image of Gilderoy Lockhart.

"Hermione?" he whispered.

"Yes?" she whispered back.

"Does the Lockhart family have relatives in France?"

"Don't know." she shrugged. "Could be… the French champion's name resembles Lockhart a lot. Maybe the two families have common roots."

"Maybe." Harry nodded and directed his attention back to the goblet that spat out the second parchment – the name of the Hogwarts student.

"Dennis Creevey." Krum read out.

Dennis jumped up, amidst the thunderous applause of his schoolmates, McGonagall, Harry and Hermione (only the Slytherins weren't applauding). As he passed the staff table, Harry gave him the thumbs-up sign.

"I'm really happy he is the chosen one." Hermione told Harry, who nodded eagerly.

Only one champion was left: that of the host, Durmstrang. 

The flames of the goblet turned red again, and Krum caught the third parchment. A huge smile spread on his face as he read it – a proud smile.

"Mileta Krum." he read out.

"What? Krum?" Harry whispered.

"Shhh!" Hermione hushed him, as a black-haired girl, with black eyes and quite bushy eyebrows walked past them, casting a superfluous glance at Harry.

"Krum's sister?" 

"Must be. Looks like him a lot." Hermione replied as the third champion also left the hall. Then she turned to McGonagall: "What do you think the tasks will be, professor?"

"I don't know." Minerva shrugged. "We aren't supposed to know it."

"But surely there's a way to find it out?" Hermione asked, grinning.

"But Granger! I mean Weasley!" McGonagall sounded flabbergasted. "That would be cheating!"

"When the Triwizard Tournament took place at Hogwarts, Madame Maxime and Karkaroff got to know about the dragons by cheating." Hermione replied. "They told Fleur and Viktor."

"So… they knew in advance?" Minerva furrowed her brow.

"'Course they did… as did Harry."

"Harry?" McGonagall furrowed her brow, giving Harry a side-glance.

"Yes. He got to know about it by accident… and told Cedric, so that he wouldn't be the only one who didn't know."

"That's… that's quite noble, I guess, but I don't want to hear about cheating this time!" McGonagall stated. "We are playing fair!"

"Sure." Hermione smirked. "I can imagine how fair Beaxbatons and Durmstrang will play this time."

"I'm just wondering what the tasks might be." Hermione mused. "Any ideas, Harry?"

"Well… ice-hockey, polar-bear hunting and igloo-building seem pretty possible." said Harry with a wink, standing up and following Krum, Maxime and Aberforth out of the hall to talk to the champions in the adjoining room.

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A/N2: Minerva might be behaving a bit strangely, and I'm apologising for that, but for the first time I wanted to show her lose her temper :) Now review, please!


	7. The enamoured dragon

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A/N: thanks for the feedback, people!

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Scratches: I fear I don't understand your comment about slipknots and cd's.

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The Face of Evil: Guillaume isn't necessarily a male Veela. He's just handsome and blonde.

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ILOVELINKINPARK222: what is P.O.D.? No, I'm not mad at you, actually I have forgotten that it was you who screwed up the reviews :)

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Mage: Neither Krum nor Aberforth. Whaaaaaat? How in the world could the Durmstrang champion be Viktor and Herm's child? Think a bit – and count! Herm's nineteen, Viktor's twenty-three! And the Durmstrang champion is sixteen. It's a biological impossibility! In fact Mileta Krum is Vicky's sister. Why I don't answer your questions? Because you tend to ask things that, if answered, would reveal lots of things in advance. I don't want to spoil the surprise, please don't be angry with me :)

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thebiggesthpfan: it wasn't the last time that Minerva lost her temper. Aberforth is going to bring the worst out of her :) I guess Aberforth will be the Lockhart in this story – I mean in TGSoHH 50% of the people hated Gilderoy, the other 50% loved him very much. No, Dan won't be going to Durmstrang.

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Aurumlupi: sorry, you won't see the Dursleys until chapter 17_._ (Hehe, it's funny that people are actually missing them!!!)

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Moony Lover: yeah, she is kind of cursed. Imagine, the word 'cursive' is the same in English! I had to look it up in a dictionary, because I didn't know it, so thanks to you I learned a new word! :)) Do you really think my writing style is cursive? *grin*

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Luya Tessa Coreena: see, I'm answering you! Don't think that I don't like you – I just cannot answer everyone, because then the A/N section would be longer than the actual chapter! I only answer reviewers who ask interesting things.

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Owl Twrite: no, Tatyana has nothing to do with Snape – well, only one thing: they are both Potions teachers.

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Kit Cloudkicker: what had Aberforth smoking? I guess when he made Vladi wear the tuxedo, he made a little bit of explosion (you remember Lockhart's blunders? Well, something like that happened to Aberforth.)

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jeanine23Dr: yeah, Aberforth is kind of mad, but not in a negative way :) I enjoyed writing him very much – just as much as I enjoyed writing Gilderoy in TGSoHH.

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veronik: Harry loves Ginny so much that he would never cheat on her. You'll find out everything about Tatyana in time – but that will happen much later, sorry.

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Irish Immortality: read my answer to Mage.

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Mikey: more than 34, less than 40.

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blaubaerin: no, I don't think you could suspect who the one for McG would be… not in chapter four, at least. Yeah, Sirius is really a bit nosy, isn't he? How do people in Durmstrang communicate? I think they all speak Russian – I have a classmate who comes from Russia and one from Bulgaria. They have become very good friends and are talking with each other in Russian, so I suppose the same applies for the Durmstrang students. No, Tatyana isn't related to Snape. I suppose that the Durmstrang students do speak English, so they can easily communicate with the British guests – since the Eastern-European countries have become free and democratic, 90% of the pupils are taught English. You simply cannot meet a student who doesn't speak English, at least not here in Hungary (and Hungary also belongs to the Eastern-European region, as you know). Wood-shavings means Holzspäne. Would it be boring if Harry was the one? We'll see. Yeah, I like to refer to the temperature, but it's only because I hate cold places – I think I'd be happy living in Africa :) About Maxime's accent: you were right. I don't know why, but I mixed it up with Hagrid's. I'm going to correct it in the future. I don't speak French, so thanks for helping me out.

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PUNKsarcasm: No, I meant polyandry, that means when a woman has more than one husband. Yeah, I did mean sled, but 'sledge' is the British spelling for 'sled'. Oh, well, in the future I'll be writing 'sled', so that you don't get confused. One does not need to be a magical person in order to live in a painting, IMHO. Maybe a wizard painted a pic about Catherine the Great and cast a spell on it so that it'd move. 

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aurora riddle: read my answer to PUNKsarcasm.

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X_Tow_Naga: ice-hockey was just a joke of Harry's, of course it really isn't a magic task. Read my answer to blaubaerin about the languages they communicate in. Even old people can be immature. I know a couple of such people :) You are totally right about Tatyana's character. Why does she teach when she hates kids? She'll explain it herself later. Yes, I'm definitely going to tell about the inappropriate charms on a goat (in the final chapter – I'm evil again, huh?) Good news for you: a bit of Abu in this chapter!

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LilGinny: yes, there will be a couple of chapters in which you'll see Percy.

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jennaration: you wanted me to say something in Hungarian, so I do (and it's TRUE!): 'Harry és Ginny le fognak feküdni egymással még a sztori vége elõtt.' 

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Arif: your guess wasn't right, sorry.

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zzxm: yes, there'll be several chapters taking place in England.

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princesswitch: once I saw a German TV series in which one guy was the godfather of three kids, who happened to be siblings. So I thought it was possible. Well, maybe it's possible in Germany but not in Great Britain. I hope you don't mind that I'm not going to change it – Sirius stays the godfather for everyone :) Of course I didn't take your review as a flame! :)

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Ginny house 3: there will be love-letters as well, don't worry. And Harry's going to go home sooner or later.

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Lilith Ceridwen: it's nice seeing an old reviewer! :))

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torvadea: no, there'll be nothing about Tatyana in this chapter, neither of 'the one'. Later.

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Gala: you'll see Snape but he won't be a main character.

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The Dragon: Millicent isn't one of my fave characters, either :) You'll get to know something interesting about Draco in this chapter. Something between Herm and Krum? We'll see… (but I have never been a Herm/Krum supporter, so don't get your hopes up too much). Yes, someone has already told me that Vladi isn't a proper Russian nickname, but I simply liked it too much to change it – it sounds so cute :) An acquaintance who speaks Russian (and comes from Ukraine) told me about pirogies (she wrote it as 'pirog'), and she said that it was pasta with meat and cabbage, so it's not my fault :) Oh, Aberforth DOES seem like Gilderoy, but that's only because Gilderoy is my fave character, and if I couldn't include him in this story, I wanted to write about someone who is just as stupid as he is! :)) No, Tatyana isn't related to Snape. I'm changing the astronomy teacher's name to Zvezda – yeah, I meant star. Not Selidka, but Seiodka, okay:) I guess I misread what LupinsLover wrote about this type of meal. Yeah, Harry does know what the tasks are. By the way, where do you come from? Are you Russian or part-Russian? I've sent you a mail with a couple of questions - thanks for volunteering to help me!

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AniMourner: yes, Mileta Krum is Vicky's sister.

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snuffle muffle: thanks for the nice, long review – but I advise you NOT TO start study Hungarian – according to foreign people it's the second most difficult language on the world right after Japanese. Really! :)) Anyway, I'm studying international communications at the college. I might become a PR manager or I might be making ads, I don't know yet, but that doesn't mean that I'll stop writing. No way! :)

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LisaQT3: there'll be a couple of chapters where not much will happen, but they are also needed to function as links between certain events. My apologies if I bored you, but you'll have to put up with chapters that are a bit boring, because sometimes important things (that don't seem important at first) come up in the 'boring' chapters and will affect the later events.

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Amaranta: send one of your stories to me (jagojade@axelero.hu) and I'll correct it. (please, send it in rtf format if possible!)

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Nefertiri: yes, the Dursleys believe that David is a wizard, though they had tried to deny it, but now they have to face the cruel reality.

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Isis: Rowling hasn't written anything about Aberforth being dead, so I supposed he was still alive!

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baybee-xoxo: yeah, the whole story is written, but I'm still re-reading and correcting it.

Oh, heavens, what a long 'answering-the-reviews-section'! Sorry about it, I just wanted to reply as many questions as possible. And now, on to chapter seven, which is kind of a link-chapter, but I hope you'll enjoy it nevertheless!

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Chapter 7

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The enamoured dragon

"Letter from Harry!" Sirius burst into the kids' room where Ginny was playing with Lily.

"Oh, really?" her face lit up and practically ripped the paper out of the man's hand. 

While she was reading the letter, Sirius sat down on the carpet to help Lily with building a castle of huge, colourful bricks.

"What did he write?" he asked, accidentally making the castle's tower tumble down.

"Silly!" Lily yelled, her emerald eyes filling with tears.

"Oh, I didn't mean to!" Sirius gathered the little girl into his arms. "You know what? I'll restore it to its original state!" he flipped his wand and the castle was standing again.

Ginny looked up from the letter, smiling. "You're good at restoring buildings, Sirius. Too bad Muggles still think Stonehenge was restored by Martians."

"Oh, yeah. All those scientists swarming out to Stonehenge, trying to find an explanation…"

"And found none…" she nodded. "Did they really build a radio-telescope next to the ruins, hoping to catch alien signs from the Horse-head Nebula?"

"Yes, they did." Sirius shook his head, laughing. "Crazy folks, Muggles." he suddenly realised that he had said something he shouldn't have. He looked at Ginny to see that she had dropped the letter, her face stony, her eyes fixed on Daniel's crib. A single tear coursed down her cheek. She didn't even reach out to wipe it.

"Ginny…" Sirius stood up and walked up to her, placing his arms around her. "I'm sorry. I always forget."

"That's you, Sirius!" she cried. "I cannot forget it! I cannot!" she buried her face into his shoulder, sobbing. He had no idea what to say, so he just started stroking her hair, trying to comfort her.

"I know it's hard for you, but you are strong, Ginny. You are one of the strongest young women I know… you mustn't break down… you have to stand up and live as though nothing had happened… your children need you, so don't give up, Ginny."

"I won't give up." she looked up, sniffing. Now her face radiated no sadness, but resolution. "Do you have a tissue?"

"Sure. So, what does Harry write?"

"He got to know Dumbledore's brother." she replied, blowing her nose. "Aberforth. The guy seems to be bit of a lunatic, but at least he sings well."

"Is that all?"

"No. Harry seems to hate vodka." she grinned, wiping away the last tears.

"Well, nothing can substitute for a nice warm butterbeer." Sirius nodded. "Still… this Aberforth… his name sort of rings a bell… where have I heard it before? Not from Albus I think…"

"He is the guy with the goat." she replied.

"Aha! I knew I heard his name somewhere! Or read it?" he mused. "That must have happened at least a century ago! Not even my grandparents were born back then… Anyway, what is he doing in Russia?"

"No idea." Ginny shrugged.

"Ini!"

She looked down to see her daughter tugging at her rock.

"What?" she squatted to be at the same eye-level with Lily.

"I think she just wanted some attention from her mommy." Sirius said. "This little princess is spoiled. Yes." he smiled at the small girl. "You are used to get attention all the time, right?"

"Sirius, would you be so kind and look after her for a while? I'm tired." Ginny said, giving Lily a kiss.

"All right." he nodded, lifting the child onto his arm. "C'mon, dear, we are going for a nice walk in the garden, and catch some gnomes to play with, okay?"

As they departed, Ginny walked up to the crib of her son. The little boy stirred and opened his brown eyes. He inherited his mother's original eye colour – the Green Flame Torch didn't influence Ginny's DNA, after all.

"Hello." she cooed, reached out to the baby, who immediately gripped her index finger with one of his tiny fists. "Oh, what a firm grip you have!" she laughed. "You are going to be a strong man… wizard or not. Don't worry my son, mum and dad won't let you be harmed by anyone… we won't let anyone mock you… and of course won't allow Draco Malfoy or any future child of his come near you… They never mend their way, those Malfoys…" she remembered a day – shortly after Christmas - during their last year at Hogwarts…

It was some time in January when she had to go down into the dungeons to ask professor Snape for an ingredient that she needed for her Potions homework. Snape was nowhere to be found. The corridor was quite dark, so she whispered _Lumos_ and headed for the staircase at the other end of it, but she happened to stumble over something lying on the floor. She tripped, and fell right onto an unconscious Draco Malfoy.

"Ouch!" he yelled as he came round from the impact. 

"Oh, sorry!" she mumbled, groping around for her fallen wand.

"Hey, that's my most private part!" he groaned, tossing her hands away.

"Sorry, I can't find my wand!" she replied, continuing her search. About half a minute later she felt something long and smooth on the floor. "_Lumos_!" she said again and lifted the wand to cast some light on Draco. "Heavens!" she breathed at the sight.

Draco's clothes were torn and his face was smeared with blood.

"Who did this to you?"

"Nott." he replied, trying to sit up. He didn't manage.

"But… why did he beat you up like this?"

"None of your business." he replied coldly. "Help me get up to the infirmary, will you?"

"Oh, wait a minute… I don't know how to conjure a stretcher… can you stand up?"

"Don't think so."

"Try." she demanded, holding out her arms to pull him up. He grabbed them and sat up, gritting his teeth. *He must be in great pains.* she thought, pulling him with all her might.

Somehow she managed to make him stand, but making him walk was a much more difficult business. 

"C'mon, Malfoy, show you're a man!" she moaned as he leaned on her with all his seventy kilos of weight. "C'mon, only a couple of stairs!" she panted as they reached the bottom of the staircase.

"A couple?" he winced. "At least three-hundred…"

About half an hour later they reached the hospital wing. By then Ginny barely had enough strength to open the door to Madame Pomfrey's 'residence'. 

"My goodness!" the matron clasped her hands and hurried up to them, taking over Draco's weight from Ginny's shoulders, making him lie down on a bed.

"What happened to this young man?" Poppy asked, examining his bruises. "This wasn't caused by magic… someone had beaten you up really thoroughly, Mr. Malfoy."

"But you can fix him, right?" Ginny asked, clutching at the bedpost, as though she hadn't felt strong enough to stand on her feet.

"Yes, no problem…" Madame Pomfrey looked up, then clapped her forehead. "Are you totally out of your mind, Ms. Weasley? I mean Mrs. Potter…You shouldn't have been heaving such huge weights! Oh my, oh my, you can barely stand!" she grabbed Ginny's arm and ushered her to the bed next to Draco's.

"I'm fine, Madame Pomfrey." she whispered, her face deadly pale.

"Fine? Oh, you silly girl! You could have lost your baby!" she tutted, casting a condition-stabilising spell on Ginny.

"Baby?" Draco croaked. "She's pregnant again?"

"Yes, she is." Poppy nodded seriously, tending Malfoy's bruises. 

"And she brought me up here…" his voice faltered.

Before falling unconscious, the last thing Ginny heard was Draco say: "Stupid woman."

"Are you all right, love?" Draco heard a too familiar voice coming from the adjacent bed.

"I'm fine, dear." another voice replied.

"I was so worried." said the familiar voice again. "Why didn't you leave him there and ran up for help? Or why didn't you just say _mobilicorpus_?"

"I didn't know that charm, Harry. Anyway, it was so sudden… so shocking… I couldn't have asked anyone for help, since everyone I knew was on the Quidditch pitch along with Captain Potter…" she gave him a small smile. "And… well, I guess I wasn't thinking."

"What else did you expect from a woman? Especially from a Weasley?" Draco asked, still with closed eyes.

"How long have you been awake, Malfoy?" Harry turned in his direction.

"Long enough to hear you two going all mushy... yuck." Draco rubbed his eyes and sat up. "Don't you fear to melt away in the middle of such sappy scenes?"

"Stuff cotton-wool into your ears, if you don't want to listen, Malfoy." Harry suggested. 

"I'd rather cast a muzzle charm on you, Potter." Draco declared. "Anyway, let me congratulate you, I hear you didn't waste your time knocking her up again. You must be very taken with yourself now."

"I'm not taken with myself, Malfoy." Harry crossed his arms. "But I don't deny that I'm happy about the arrival of my son."

"Son? You know it already?" Draco raised an eyebrow. "Are you aware that your little wife almost lost your _son _when helping me?"

"I know… but I simply don't understand." Harry pouted. "You aren't worth that much."

"Always the sincere, Potter." Draco grinned.

"Yes, always the sincere." Harry nodded. "I simply cannot lie to you… I always speak what I think…" he shrugged with an innocent expression. "…so I feel I need to tell you that you look much worse than you did when Peeves so kindly painted you."

"Huh? You weren't even here then!" Malfoy burst out.

"Colin… gave me a nice birthday present…" Harry smirked.

"Very nice, indeed." Ginny chimed in. "It's hanging on the wall of Harry's room at Black Manor… in a gilded frame."

"What? Creevey… that little rat photographed me… _that way_?"

"Exactly." Harry nodded, taking off his glasses to wipe away the tears of laughing. "I loved the orangutangs, but especially your hairdo. I spent a lot of time furnishing my room and the last thing I installed was that pic, which became the crowning glory of my work." 

Seeing Draco's expression, Ginny started laughing so hard that she doubled over. Harry laughed together with her, but suddenly stopped, as he realised that she wasn't doubling over in laugh anymore – she was doubling over in pain.

"Ginny!" he grabbed her arms, and she fell into his embrace, unconscious. "MADAME POMFREY!!!" Harry yelled. "Come! Something's happened to Ginny!"

The matron ran up to them, and Malfoy started craning his neck to see what was happening on the adjacent bed, but couldn't see anything because Pomfrey had jerked the screen around Ginny's bed.

"Oh, heavens! She's bleeding!" Poppy cried, pulling Harry off his wife. "Out with you, Mr. Potter!"

"But she's my wife!" Harry retorted. "I want to stay!"

"I said out with you!" the matron shouted at him with such an expression that Harry thought better of speaking back.

Hours had passed when Pomfrey finally came out, extremely exhausted.

Harry – who had been pacing the ward – hurried up to her. 

"How is she?" 

A small smile appeared on Poppy's tired-looking face. "She'll be all right, Mr. Potter."

"She's lost the baby, hasn't she?" he asked.

"No. She was very close, though. Now she needs to rest – total peace. That means no visiting her, Mr. Potter. I won't allow anyone enter the infirmary for a while. She's sleeping now – I suggest you go up to your dorm and have a sleep yourself. You seem to need it."

Harry nodded and headed for the dormitory, but not with the intention of sleeping, but to grab his invisibility cloak.

He threw the cloak upon himself and hurried back to the hospital wing, trying to be as silent as one could be. 

Soon he arrived at the door of the infirmary and he listened for a couple of minutes. After he made sure that Pomfrey had gone to sleep, he noiselessly opened the door and entered.

As he approached Ginny's bed he saw a dark form concealing her from his eyes. Someone was sitting on her bed, with his back turned on the door, so he couldn't even see it open.

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Malfoy.

He was the one sitting on Ginny's bed.

Harry came closer, careful not to make the slightest noise. 

Moonlight flooded into the room, illuminating Malfoy's pale face – a face that had a strange expression on it now… an expression Harry had never seen on it before.

"I'm… so sorry, Ginny." Draco whispered. "I don't want you to lose your child because of me… I couldn't stand it." he was speaking very quietly, as though fearing that someone could hear him – as though fearing that _Ginny _could hear him. "You know… you really shouldn't have helped me… Potter was right, I'm not worth that much." he shook his head in disgust, and tentatively reached out with his right hand… and placed it on Ginny's abdomen.

*Take your hands off my wife, you bastard!* Harry felt like yelling, but bit his tongue to prevent himself from uttering a single word. His fists clenched as he watched Malfoy gently rubbing Ginny's stomach.

"Hey, kid…" Draco whispered, "…yes, I'm talking to you in there… hold out, will you? Not for me… not even for that git of a father you have… only for your mother." he gulped. "You have to be born, do you hear me? Have to. Okay? Be a good boy and love your mother… she deserves it. Wonderful woman. She killed Voldemort, do you know that? She… just has to be loved."

Harry shook his head in disbelief. Either Malfoy had got a serious blow on the head and gone crazy, or… better not think of it. Better not think of it!

Ginny never got to know about Draco sitting on her bedside that night, because Draco was way too proud to admit it, and Harry was way too scared to tell her about what he had seen and heard… as though he had felt he had to protect his wife from Malfoy.

Ginny never understood why those two men – who had reconciled back at the wedding – became so nasty to each other again. She never managed to comprehend why Malfoy treated her like a piece of dung during the rest of the school year. She never knew it was only a defence-reaction of his. All she knew was that Draco was much more of a bastard after their short stay at the infirmary than he had ever been before.

She never knew that he was jealous. Terribly jealous.

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Ginny was jerked back into the present by Daniel's whimpers.

"They'll always remain rotten to their very core." Ginny sighed, adjusting the little boy's quilt. "Never ever believe a Malfoy, Dan, never. I almost lost you because of him and he didn't even thank me for helping. They don't deserve anyone's confidence, Malfoys. Your father shouldn't have trusted Draco for a single second." she heaved another sigh. "I was so happy when Harry told me about their reconciliation… I thought the fighting was over… how silly of me, huh? Malfoys always be Malfoys and won't change."

"Ini!" she heard Lily's voice and saw her little daughter ran into the room, holding a madly squeaking gnome. "Look!"

"Oh, have you caught it all by yourself?" Ginny asked, smiling.

"Yes!" Lily beamed.

"Only seventeen months old and already knows how to fib! She'll be a great magical mischief maker, I tell you!" Sirius laughed.

"Why? Did _you_ catch the gnome?" she asked with an amused expression.

"No. Abu did." Sirius pointed at the window. 

Ginny walked up to it and couldn't help but laugh – Abu was chasing the gnomes like hell. The sight made her totally forget about Malfoy and all her sorrows.

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A/N2: you might be wondering why I wrote such a chapter about Malfoy going… weak. You'll get the answer for it later.


	8. Vendetta

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A/N: thanks for the reviews!

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Maddy: I can't promise you that there won't be any cliffhangers, sorry. :)

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star queen: I'm not much of a Malfoy fan, either, but I believe that even he deserves a second chance, so I'm giving him more of a role in this story than in TGSoHH.

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Moony Lover: oh, sorry, I fear I don't understand it again – how do I do the cursiva words and how do I make them appear in ffnet? I remember someone had problems with stuff like **_writing this way_** – do you have the same problem? Because if yes, then I cannot help you – maybe your computer doesn't transform your word document properly into HTML format, I don't know. Do you study German? (you said bitte…:) Oh, of course I do love chocolate! About Ginny bleeding and Dan becoming a squib… well, first Gin believes that it was caused by her helping Malfoy, but later it will turn out to have another reason. That one also comes in chapter 17 (I guess now everyone's waiting chapter 17 very much…)

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Hobbit Feet: no, Fluffy doesn't like to have Malfoys for dinner… and even Norbert has a better taste :) Um, what does BBQ mean?

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Arif: fried chicken? Yummy… No, sorry, but the Potters are definitely staying in England. 

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Nefertiri: WHAT??????? Where have I said anything like people becoming wizards very late in life? I only said what Rowling said: that wizards live longer than Muggles! You must have misread something, I guess. Daniel will be one year old at the end of this story.

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Tlaka: no, Ginny isn't going to be tempted… now.

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AmandaPanda: I also know a couple of people whom I used to hate when I was a child, and now they're really nice! Strange, huh?

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veronik: yes, there'll be one more flashback about their seventh year (and it'll be an extremely hilarious one :)

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GinnyPotter387: why was Draco jealous? Because he likes Ginny, who belongs to Harry. That's so simple. Why was he mean again? Because it was the only way he could make Ginny believe that he didn't feel anything for her.

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X_Tow_Naga: good news: my best friend just got a scanner, so I got the H and G in the prefect's bathroom pic scanned (though I could only send it to you in a word document, because the jpg format is extremely big and I don't know how to make it be smaller). So if you want me, I'll send it to you. And now, to your questions (you always have so many!): I'm not sure that Lily will ever call Gin 'mother' – I think it's cute that way, but I might change my mind. Read the second half of my answer to Moony Lover about Ginny almost losing Dan. Why did Pomfrey let Draco stay there? You know the Hogwarts matron: she likes fussing over people and only lets them leave the infirmary when they're totally healed. Draco was feeling quite well, but I suppose that Pomfrey was playing the over-protective again. Why didn't she cast a charm around Gin's bed? Well, why should she have? She didn't think that anyone would try and do something nasty to her – really, why would they? Ginny was over the crisis then, so she didn't need to be separated anymore. And you know Draco: even if there had been a charm around Ginny's bed, it wouldn't have stopped Draco. If our Draco wants something, he gets it (almost always:) Why didn't they prohibit Harry from taking the cloak into the school? I don't think they'd do it: Dumbledore is the headmaster, and he was the one who gave the cloak to Harry to _use it well_. Thus he wouldn't forbid him to wear it, would he?

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Aurumlupi: sorry, but there's simply no opportunity in the next nine chapters to make the Dursleys have a role. But I promise that you'll see them again in chapter 17 (and at the very end of the story as well. I simply love making fun of them!)

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PepsiAngel: 70 kilos? About 150 lbs, I guess (but I'm not sure I converted it all right.) Anyway, just imagine Draco being tall and lean, looking like any normal guy, and IMHO tall guys (if they're not fat but not too skinny either) are about 70 kilos.

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jennyKT: Tom Felton is really hot, but I think Dan Radcliffe is even hotter – just seen the movie for the eighth time :)

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LilBit: glad to see you again!!! OH, heavens! You gave up fan fiction for the whole 40 days of Lent? You DO have a great willpower, then! I for one always forgot not to eat meat on Fridays, although I did have the intention of giving up meat, but… I don't have that much of a willpower, and I'm a bit forgetful in this respect, hehe… I really envy you, I'm not this strong!

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Amen, Lana Potter, aurora riddle, teacherchez: read my answer to Moony Lover (the second half of it).

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LupinsLover: yes, Malfoy is in love with Ginny – more about it later. Read my answer to Moony Lover (the second half of it).

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Mikey: sorry, no Hagrid in this one.

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Pataliamon: Beautiful Bill is a writer I made up. He lived in India in the 19th century and wrote four books about Indian wizardry. He is Hermione's favourite writer (and he's very handsome).

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Grizabella: no, I really don't know this Vegita, but I'm not asking either :)

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apple pie: what did Tatyana get to know from the Sphaera Inferi? You'll get to know from chapter… um… (Agi looking it up)… 28. (sorry :)

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phoenix6545: the 'enamoured dragon' referred to Draco. (You know that draco means dragon in Latin, and in last chapter he kind of fell in love with Ginny – though it might have happened earlier, but he only realised it in last chapter.)

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AgiVega's GREATEST FAN: do you know that your name made me blush? :))

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PUNKsarcasm: ooops, you caught me! Harry DID live in an own room! What a mistake! Silly me! Anyway, we could say that he lent the cloak to Colin, who kept it in his dorm, so Harry needed to climb up to Gryffindor tower to get it :) Yes, sledge is the British word for sled, but sleigh also means the same. There are two words for it.

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spangle*star: I have read the HP books 7 times in Hungarian and 3 times in English (and now 

I'm reading HP1 in German). IMHO means In My Humble Opinion.

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LilGinny: maybe :)

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Harrysgirl: why did Malfoy go nice? Because he realised that he was in love with Ginny. Read my answer to Moony Lover (the second half of it).

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thebiggesthpfan: can't tell you that :) sorry :)

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Julie: I believe that witches and wizards develop quicker than Muggles.

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PadmeSkywalker: ah, it's always nice to see old reviewers! Welcome back!

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Lilith Ceridwen: I don't think that Draco ever liked Voldie. Lucius maybe did, but not Draco.

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xenocide: thanks :) yeah, that pairing is possible :)

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Hayley Mills: no, Draco isn't my fave, but I like him. To teach you Hungarian? Well, we could talk about it – send me a mail! :)) Thanks for volunteering to help me with English, but most people say it's okay that way (though I know it's not perfect).

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BlueIce: oh, you poor thing! What an evil brother you have!

TO EVERYONE: PLEASE, DON'T GET MAD AT ME IF I DON'T ANSWER YOUR REVIEW, BUT I ONLY ANSWER REVIEWS THAT ASK SOMETHING INTERESTING, ALTHOUGH I HIGHLY APPRECIATE ALL REVIEWS, EVEN THOSE THAT ONLY SAY: "HEY, IT'S GOOD!" ANYWAY I REALLY COULDN'T ANSWER EVERYONE, BECAUSE THEN THE A/N SECTION WOULD BE LONGER THAN THE ACTUAL CHAPTER! PLEASE, FORGIVE ME AND UNDERSTAND!

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Chapter 8

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Vendetta

The day following the selection of the three champions you couldn't hear anything else at Durmstrang but gossips about the tournament. People came up with such weird ideas for the tasks, that polar bear-hunting didn't even sound ridiculous anymore.

"I bet they'll make them catch penguins." Graham Pritchard said at breakfast.

"Are you out of your mind?" Natalie McDonald replied. "You can't find penguins on the Arctic only on the Antarctic!"

"Who cares?" the burly Slytherin shrugged. "Let's ask our _champion_." he pointed at Dennis who approached the table. "Hey, Creevey!"

"What, Pritchard?" Dennis sat down across him.

"What will be the first task?" Malcolm Baddock – another Slytherin – asked.

"Dunno. They didn't tell us. All they said was that we'd have to find a very special and rare plant that has magical powers."

"A plant? Is that all? Finding a damned plant?" Pritchard sneered. "Anyone, even a filthy little Gryffindor like you could cope with that."

"Thanks for the encouragement. I feel a lot better." Dennis grimaced. "Anyway, Krum and Dumbledore said it'd be a dangerous task… I mean the search. But first of all we'll have to make research in the library. We have to find out what we'll have to look for so that we can prepare."

"I don't think it'd be so difficult to find out about that plant." Eleanor Branstone stated. "I mean there aren't too many plants around here in winter."

Dennis shrugged. "We'll see."

"I just hope you win the tournament, Dennis." Natalie said in a rather loud voice, casting a side-glance at the Slytherins. "I couldn't stand if that pompous Beauxbatons guy won!"

"Uh, Guillaume?" Dennis chuckled. "Yeah, kind of a weirdo. Reminds me of a chap I saw at Harry's party in July. What was his name… Gilded?"

"Gilderoy." Eleanor said, blushing.

"Uh-oh, Ellie, you have a crush on Gilderoy Lockhart!" Natalie chuckled. "Or rather on Guillaume Lochar?"

Eleanor flushed even more. "Who wouldn't have a crush on him? He looks soooooo good…" she sighed, eyeing the French champion who was sitting at the adjacent table, laughing about something. All his 32 teeth glittered in the morning sunshine.

"I guess you're not the only one who has a crush in here." Natalie told her friend.

"Who else?" Eleanor asked.

Natalie pointed at a dark-haired girl at one of the tables closest to the staff table.

"What? Krum's sister?" Eleanor gaped. "Why do you think she also likes Guillaume?"

"Not Guillaume, silly." her friend laughed.

"Who then?" Dennis asked.

"Watch her a bit." Natalie replied with a wicked smile. "Look at her eyes getting all misty while fixed on…"

"_Harry_." Dennis declared.

"Exactly. Harry."

"Woohoo, this will be interesting!" Eleanor giggled. "I wonder whether Harry already knows about his new groupie…"

"I don't think so." Baddock grunted. "He seems too occupied with playing the role of the lightning-rod between professor McGonagall and Dumbledore." 

Dennis nodded with a half-smile. McGonagall and Aberforth's relationship hasn't seemed to have improved – no, on the contrary. It has become definitely worse since their little incident on the 'skating rink'. Aberforth continued behaving as nonchalantly as ever before, which only made Minerva become even more of an icicle than she'd been ever before. She was reluctant to talk or listen to him – their relationship got reduced to the level of Aberforth saying "Hello, dear Minerva, how pretty you look today!" and McGonagall replying "Good morning" and rushing by.

"Well, I'm off to the library." Dennis stood up. "Have to start the research."

"Ask professor Weasley. She'll surely help you with those books." Eleanor suggested.

"Yes, definitely ask her, Creevey." Baddock sneered. "You'd never figure it out on your own."

Dennis pretended that he hadn't heard anything and left.

* * * * *

McGonagall, having finished her breakfast, stood up from the table. So did Aberforth. Before he could tell her anything, Madame Maxime stepped to him and called him aside.

McGonagall heaved a sigh of relief: the Beauxbatons headmistress 'saved' her from Dumbledore. She headed for the door when something occurred to her and she doubled back. Maxime was animatedly gesturing to Aberforth, but must have been talking in a hushed voice, since Minerva didn't hear a word.

The man replied something and Olympe departed.

"I have a feeling that she was asking you about the first task." McGonagall stepped to Aberforth with a strict expression. "I seriously hope that you managed to keep your big mouth shut."

"Big?" the man looked amused. "Actually I haven't spilled the beans to Olympe, dear Minerva. No one, but Viktor, Harry and me know about the first task… I guess."

"If you would only stop calling me Minerva, Mr. Dumbledore…" she furrowed her brow. "We aren't on first name terms, are we?"

"Oh, you are no fun, Mrs. McGonagall. Or is it Miss?"

"Miss, of course." Minerva snapped.

"No wonder." Aberforth shrugged.

"What?" she raised an eyebrow.

"That you're still a miss, Ms. McGonagall. You're as cold as this place."

"And you think you're the one to apply some heat?" she crossed her arms.

"Me?" he laughed. "What a funny idea… but you may never know… I might get interested." he winked at her.

"Why, you half-witted, scruffy-looking… Santa Claus!" she sputtered. 

"Santa Claus? That's cute." Aberforth straightened himself proudly. "I have some reindeers, after all. Good that you mentioned it, I have to visit them, the poor dears must be devastated, they haven't seen me for days!"

"Good for them." McGonagall replied coolly.

"Tut, tut." Aberforth shook his head.

"What?"

"You are not as cold as this place. Colder. You could really use a guy to warm you up."

"You can be sure that that guy isn't you!" she replied haughtily. 

"Why, Ms McGonagall?" Aberforth asked gently. "I could close you into my arms and warm you up very nicely."

"Me? In your arms?" she snapped. "The only way I would jump into your arms is if a yeti chased me!" 

"A yeti?" he scratched his head. "Hard to arrange… but we'll see…" he winked at her again and walked away.

* * * * *

On his way up to his room Harry got lost again. He wished he had a marauder's map about Durmstrang, too. But unfortunately he didn't.

He saw Catherine the Great in a painting on the second floor – she was rather occupied with buttoning her shirt and re-adjusting her hair. A man, half-naked, half-wrapped in a blanket, stretched and yawned on the bed behind her back.

"Hello, your majesty." Harry greeted her. "Could you please tell me the way to my room?"

"Go two floors up and turn left on the corner then turn right on the next one." Catherine replied, a bit flushing. She beckoned Harry closer and whispered: "Do I look okay? Akakiy Akakiyevich doesn't have a mirror."

"You look absolutely perfect, majesty." he assured her and headed for the staircase. He climbed the stairs and arrived on the fourth floor where he accidentally walked through the ghost of Ivan Ilyich. 

"Oh, sorry! Didn't see you were there!" he apologised.

"Oh, never mind." the ghost replied with a suffering face. "I don't care what people do to me… not anymore. They never liked me in my life, either…"

"Oh, that's sad."

"You have no idea how sad it is!" Ivan Ilyich burst out. "I could somehow endure people's disrespect for me, but this pain, this pain is unbearable!"

"What pain?" Harry asked.

"The pain in my left side! Terrible!" the ghost whined.

"I never knew ghosts could feel pain." Harry said.

"Of course we can! Not all of us, but I, personally, can! Of course the others say I'm imagining it – just a phantom pain, they say, but they don't know anything!" Ivan clutched at his side as though some really excruciating pain had been torturing him.

"Can… can I help somehow?"

"Yes! Get Gerasim!"

"Who?" Harry blinked.

"My valet!"

"Valet? Sorry, I don't know your valet, sir."

"What? Haven't you heard about me and my story?" Ivan Ilyich raised his eyebrow.

"Er, no. Sorry."

"I'm sure you aren't interested, either." Ivan sighed. "Not that it would surprise me…"

"But I'm interested…" Harry didn't want to hurt the ghost's feelings, having learnt of the case of Moaning Myrtle.

"Really?" Ivan's eyes gleamed as he enthusiastically clasped his hands. "So, where should I start?"

"Well… at the beginning, I guess."

"With my birth? Er… I don't remember that part..." Ivan shook his head. "Sorry, young man. I know you are interested in it, but I cannot tell you anything about my being a baby… so I think I'll start with the day when I decided to hang a new curtain on the window…"

"Oh, c'mon, Ivan, leave this poor guy alone!" the ghost of a pretty young woman floated out of the wall. "Don't bore him to death!"

"But he said he was interested, Anna!" Ivan protested.

"Still, leave him alone." she turned to Harry, stretching out her hand. "Hello, young man, I'm Anna Karenina, pleased to meet you."

"Hullo." Harry held out his hand to shake her when he realised that her hand was intangible. "Er, sorry."

"Never mind." the woman's ghost waved. "I always forget it myself… I still feel alive, though it happened a hundred years ago…"

"What?" Harry asked.

"That she died." Ivan replied.

"Oh. I see. Well, my name is Harry Potter. I'm from Great Britain."

"Great Britain? Quite far away from here." Anna stated. "How have you come here?"

"By the school bus. Pity that we couldn't use the Hogwarts Express."

"Trains!" Anna Karenina squealed. "I HATE trains!" she burst into trains and floated away.

"Oh, my, what have I said?" Harry frowned. "What's wrong with trains?"

"That she died under one." Ivan replied. "Killed herself because of Count Wronsky."

"Who? Joseph Wronski? The famous Polish Quidditch player who invented the Wronski feint?"

"What?" the ghost blinked. "No. That was another Wronsky. Eh, never mind. So, where was I? Yeah… I decided to climb the ladder and hang and a new curtain on the window…"

* * * * *

"What are you reading with such interest that you don't even hear one's footsteps?" Krum asked.

Hermione looked up. "Oh, just some book I found in your library. Pretty interesting."

"What?" Viktor looked at the title of the book. "Nah. Russian Myths and legends. Or I'd rather call them fairy tales."

"There are lots of legends – for example the Greek ones – that have real events in their background." she replied. "And these legends are really so interesting… For example this legend about the wizard twins, Aaron and Anor."

"Ah, silly tales." Viktor waved, sitting down next to her.

"But truly amazing." Hermione insisted. "Anor froze his brother so that he could be the leading wizard of Russia… then killed his father, who, before dying, sent Anor into a coma-like sleep. And the other story about the golden fish in Durmstrang's lake! Wonderful!"

"Oh, c'mon, Herm-own-ninny," Krum slipped a bit closer to her. "There's no magical golden fish in this lake at all. Legends tell about one living in the lake, but it's codswallop, in my opinion. Still… if you are interested in stuff like that, I could tell you old Bulgarian tales that my parents used to tell me when I was a small child…" he slipped his arm around her. "…I'd tell you tales, wonderful tales, Herm-own-ninny…"

"Thanks." she stood up. "But Snow White and Cinderella are nice enough for me."

Krum also rose to his feet. "No tales, then. Something else?"

"What else, Viktor?" Hermione crossed her arms.

"Maybe… do you feel like visiting the wizarding quarter of St. Peterburg or Murmansk with me? You could buy something nice for your family there… Christmas is coming, after all."

"Well…" she bit her lip. "I've been considering going there, but even if I go, I'm going with Harry." seeing the disappointment spread on Krum's face, she added: "I have already been to the wizarding marketplace at St. Petersburg, but Harry hasn't, and I suppose he'd also like to make purchases for the holidays. And now, if you will excuse me…"

Viktor looked after the departing woman and heaved a deep, resigned sigh.

* * * * *

Half an hour later Ivan finished his tale about himself falling down the ladder, hitting himself and getting very-very-very ill. At first Harry tried to show sympathy, but later on all he managed to do was nod and insert an "uhum" and a "yeah" every now and then.

Thankful for getting away from the ghost, Harry continued his way up to his room. As he turned right on a corner, something (or rather somethings) black and furry jumped upon him.

"Hey! Geroff!" he yelled, ripping the two pogrebins off himself.

"Vendetta!" cried one of them (must have been a multi-lingual demon), pulling a long, sharp knife out from behind his back.

"Easy does it!" Harry reached into his robes to get his wand… and didn't find it!

The first pogrebin menacingly swished the knife, gaining on the young man. The other one triumphantly flipped something long in its hand, then threw it away – far away enough for Harry not to be able to get to it without getting knifed by a bloodthirsty furball. 

"Hey, let's discuss this, guys…" Harry backed against the wall. "Er… you don't speak English, huh? Only Russian and Italian?"

The pogrebins didn't seem to be in talkative mood – not to mention that the second one also pulled out a dagger from somewhere – did they have pockets? Harry wondered.

The two demons backed Harry to the wall of the corridor, viciously snarling and gnashing their teeth. Harry didn't have anything to defend himself with. He felt the cold of brick against his back, his eyes made a quick journey around to find something – anything to help himself… and then he saw it: in an arm's-length there was a torch on the wall. Harry didn't hesitate: he snatched it out of its bracket to threaten the demons away. 

However, he never had time to see whether pogrebins were afraid of fire or not, because the wall he was leaning against suddenly moved: a part of it came into life and sucked Harry in.

****

A/N2: sorry, I really hated Ivan Ilyich, that's why I made fun of him – excuse me, Mr. Tolstoy… eh, by the way, Anna Karenina also belongs to Tolstoy, but I like that story, so Anna is going to be a decent ghost. Akakiy Akakiyevich belongs to Gogol.

I used (in a re-written form) a couple of lines from Star Wars EP5, The Empire Strikes Back – I hope good ol' George Lucas doesn't mind.


	9. Curiosity

****

A/N: thanks for the reviews, again!

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The Face of Evil: professor Weasley referred to Hermione – she had married Ron, after all.

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Kit Cloudkicker: the pogrebins stole his wand. No, I don't think that Krum knows about Harry's son being a squib – otherwise he wouldn't keep blabbering about squibs all the time – he is more tactful than that.

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jennaration: Hungarian lesson: Dennis nem fog meghalni.

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Super saya-Jin Gotan: *relieved sigh* - good that Lucas doesn't read HP :)))

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zzxm: are you a relative of Trelawney's? :))

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X_Tow_Naga: why would they transport penguins to Russia??? Why does Krum go on Herm? Well, he's a man in love – but don't worry he'll realise soon that he's just wasting his time. McGonagall said the yeti thing as a joke, didn't mean it at all. (you're going into technical details very much :) A map of Dursmtrang? Hey, Durmstrang's not a shopping mall where you can get maps on every corner! You're right about the pictures showing sex, but I believe that the people at the pictures are careful not to do it when children happen to walk by (Harry doesn't count, he's an adult). And you know Catherine the Great's reputation: she was famous for having lots of lovers, so I just wanted her to continue acting as the real Catherine the Great. The ghost having pain was just making fun of Ivan Ilyich – because Ivan had pains throughout the whole book of Tolstoy's getting on my nerves, yuck – never read that book! How did Anna know that the Hogwarts Express was a train? Hm, there were no busses in her time, were there? Only trains.

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BlueIce: WHAT? Voldemort looking like Santa??? That's the end of the world!!! Vendetta is an Italian word, meaning blood feud. You know people started this on Corse: if someone killed your relative, then you killed that someone – vendetta is taking revenge on someone who killed a family-member of yours. Anyway, it's in any English dictionary as well.

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Notebook Girl: so, you're interested in my little Hungary? That's really flattering :) Send me a mail and tell me what exactly you are interested in and I'll reply :)

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Ginny house 3: do I have any bad chapters? Bad? Hm, I don't know… there'll be chapters that you won't like – chapters that'll make you angry and desperate, but that doesn't mean that those chapters are bad. I can't really answer this question, sorry.

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LisaQT3: yeah, I'm definitely the queen of cliffies! :))

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star queen: I took my SW stories off because I realised that they were silly – at least one of them. Oh, please, tell me about Natalie McDonald! I don't know her story, but I'm very curious!

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ILOVELINKINPARK222: WHAT? YOU'VE NEVER SEEN STAR WARS!?! GO AND RENT IT IMMEADIATELY, DO YOU HEAR ME? STAR WARS IS WONDERFUL!

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blaubaerin: you'll see more of Dennis in the library in this chapter, anyway, there's not much of a choice: there aren't too many plants in Russia in winter, are there? Oh, if you don't know much of Ivan Ilyich, then DO NOT read it! It's absolutely terrible! slurp? Hm, I'm not sure, but I guess it's said that way :) Rowling said that in HP1 McGonagall was about 70 – so NOT 35! She's about 80 now!

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xenocide: no, no time-travel, I'd never write about time-travel. Why don't I post the whole thing? Because there are still many things that need to be corrected. Oh, yeah, I meant that Anna burst into TEARS, but I was too 'trained' in the moment, I guess, and I speak German as well, and in German tears are "Träne", and that sounds a bit like train, so I mixed it up. When I read your review and saw what a mistake I made I couldn't stop laughing for minutes!

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Crazycutee831: you can hate me because I really know everything in advance :) No, no time-travel. You predicted it well – I posted chap 9 on Monday! About your guesses: some of them are close, but some of them are very far away from the truth – oh, yeah, and you got 3 of them totally right, but I'm not telling you which! *evil grin*

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Sean Mulligan: you can like Slytherins, still show them as the evil guys – I simply love evil guys! Anyway, if you cannot write me proper reviews, dear Sean, then please stop reviewing me, because with your attempts of propagating that particular story, you have brought about a boomerang-effect: the more you try to convince me, the less I want to read that story. Sorry, I understand if you want to popularise your friend's fic, but doing it in every review you write me is simply impolite! 

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Moony Lover: since ist seit auf Deutsch :) Not many mistakes, don't worry, I'm not that good at German, either :) No, I don't know any spell to block someone's powers, but there are other spells that… oho! Not telling! Let it be a surprise! 

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Mage: don't think that I'm a D/G fanatic – I'll always remain a H/G fan (and no, definitely no H/K fan! Hr/R forever, or course!)

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Lady Cinnibar: I live in Budapest – and where do you live? Great that your dad is also from Budapest :) You mean that your grandpa was from Slovenia, right? Because Slovakia is in northern direction from Hungary, and Slovenia is in southern direction from here. Oh, yeah, the revolution of 1956 was surely terrible – I'm happy that I wasn't born back then, I've heard so many terrible things about it :(

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AniMourner: no, Dennis really isn't the champion type, but is Harry??? I don't think so. Of course I didn't want to make Graham Pritchard or Malcolm Baddock become Hogwarts champs.

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Arif: the Star Wars line was: 'you stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerfherder', and I re-wrote the nerfherder to become Santa Claus. That's all. No, no Greek kids at Durmstrang, but I also like Greek mythology. It's cool. I didn't say that there'd be no cliffies! On the contrary: I said that I COULDN'T promise that there'd be no more cliffies! 

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Nefertiri: yes, the pogrebins will some time leave Harry alone. All right, 39 chapters. Read my answer to BlueIce about vendetta.

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PadmeSkywalker: yeah, Viktor does like Herm. The poor guy…

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LilBit: I cannot tell when you misspell something in French, because I don't speak French.

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Finnigan: sorry, I can't include a description about the creatures, because I only have that booklet in Hungarian, and I don't want to translate it all – I hope you understand. No real fight between the Dumbledore brothers, but there'll be something interesting between them, I promise!

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cathy: a specific reason to make Dan a squib? Hm… to have a plot, maybe? Or to make my readers yell at me: 'how dare you make a Daniel a squib???' LOL, I'm evil :)

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Aurumlupi: I only speak English and German besides my native-language. No more, sorry. (but I'm planning to start Spanish soon).

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AlexanderPheonix: welcome back and don't flatten your head on your desk, please!

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Mikey: about Joseph Wronksy: in Quidditch through the ages Rowling write about him (and of course already in GoF.) The other Wronsky I mentioned in last chapter comes from Anna Karenina – Anna was in love with a certain Count Wronksy. I thought it'd be funny to include this, given that the two names are the same.

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Waldomier: Santa isn't a wizard – Aberforth will talk about it in next chapter. I didn't want to write four champions – it would be too much of copying Rowling. About vendetta read my answer to BlueIce. You have a horse named David? Cute! :)

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LilyGinny: maybe :)

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Tessa: no, it wasn't my fave chapter either, because it was a bit boring, I know – but unfortunately there need to be a couple of such chapters, in which I'm only building up the story for later events. The building-up will continue for quite a while, but I hope that it won't get too boring. Ivan Ilyich is a character of Leo Tolstoy, and he's not Hungarian, but Russian. The title of the book is The death of Ivan Ilyich, and it's terribly boring, I hated it when I had to read it in the high school :( Read my answer to xenocide about 'trains'.

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Cassandra Anthemyst: what or who is Lita?

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Pantaliamon: you're either right or wrong or in the middle :)

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Pumpkin3223: no, Tatyana won't do anything like that to Dennis. I guess Lily will go on calling her parents 'Harry' and 'Ginny', but Daniel will call them mum and dad. You'll see quite a many H/G chapters, don't worry. A sequel? Ssssh! Just started working on it! :))

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Wood's secret lover: oh, who wouldn't like Wood??? *big grin* I understand – I do the same: we also have net on phone and I also download fics to read them. I wrote TGSoHH for three months, last summer. I'll read your fic as soon as possible, and thanks for your nice review. Um, where do you live? In Russia, or in Scotland? (Lupinslover lives in Scotland, doesn't she?)

TO THOSE WHOSE REVIEWS I HAVEN'T ANSWERED: DON'T BE ANGRY WITH ME, BUT I SIMPLY CANNOT ANSWER ALL REVIEWS, BECAUSE THAT WOULD MAKE THE A/N SECTION LONGER THAN THE ACTUAL CHAPTER. THE OTHER REASON: MANY OF YOU ASK QUESTIONS THAT, IF ANSWERED, WOULD REVEAL TOO MUCH OF THE LATER EVENTS, AND I DON'T WANT TO TELL THINGS IN ADVANCE, BUT I DON'T WANT TO LIE EITHER.

All right, this is again a build-up chapter (there'll be a lot of them, sorry), so not much action. I hope you'll still like it.

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Chapter 9

****

Curiosity

Harry fell onto a small, platform-like thing that set into motion under him: swooped down like an elevator. After about two minutes it stopped and Harry could stand up, the torch still clutched at his hand. "What the…?" he murmured.

He was in a pitch-black corridor – the only source of light was the torch. He held it up so that he could look around. The corridor didn't have anything special in it – in fact it was totally empty. Not a painting, not even an armour was there to be seen. And then… Harry saw a door.

He walked up to it, stretching out his torch-holding hand, examining the door. It was a thick, stone door with funny signs engraved in it.

He was just about to try and open it when a cold voice spoke up behind him: "Lost again, Mr. Potter?"

Harry turned around to see Professor Fiodrovna standing there with crossed arms. "Well, kind of…" he replied.

"You have no business here. Leave." she said.

"I haven't come here deliberately." Harry explained. "I was chased by two pogrebins who wanted to kill me, then I happened to snatch this torch off the wall, then I fell trough the wall!"

"Really?" she raised an eyebrow. "How very interesting story. I suggest you leave the way you came here." she pointed at the elevator-like platform. 

"But what if those beasts are still there waiting for me?" he frowned.

"Hm… the great Harry Potter cannot deal with two weenie pogrebins?" she asked in a rather mocking tone.

*Not if they are armed and I am not.* Harry thought bitterly, but decided that he didn't want to seem weak… especially not in front of a woman. "Right." he nodded. "So you reckon this thing will bring me up to that hidden door?"

"Correct." she responded. 

"All right." Harry said and stepped onto the platform that immediately started travelling upwards, then – minutes later – it stopped and Harry found himself facing the brick wall again. He touched it: it was solid. He saw a torch-bracket on the wall, and with a sudden thought put the torch he was still holding into it. 

The wall rippled at once and Harry managed to step through it, into the corridor.

The first thing he saw was the pair of pogrebins, waiting for him with nasty, huge knives.

"Still here?" Harry groaned. "Really, guys, don't you think it's time to stop following and trying to kill me? I'm really sorry about your uncle and cousin."

The demons didn't understand him and stepped closer.

"_Stupefy!_" a sharp voice cried and the pogrebins fell, unconscious. Harry turned in the voice's direction, to see Krum's sister still pointing her wand at the demons.

"Thanks." he said.

"You're welcome." she smiled. "I guess this belongs to you." she offered him his lost wand.

"Thanks again…" he took it. Somehow, she managed to touch his hand when handing him his wand. "…Ms. Krum."

"Just call me Mileta, Mr. Potter." she blushed a bit.

"Er… okay, Mileta." he forced a smile. "Just call me Harry."

"Okay, Harry." she replied with a mellifluous voice. "_Harry_."

"Yes?"

"Nothing."

"Um, gotta go, Mileta. Thanks once more." he said and hurried away, oblivious to the fact that she was following him with her eyes, clutching at her chest.

* * * * *

As he turned left on the corner, Harry met with a rather sullen Krum.

"Hi, Viktor, what's up?"

Krum just shook his head and hurried past him, muttering something in Bulgarian – something that Harry thought was some kind of cursing.

When he finally reached his room, he heard Aberforth yelling: "Hey, hey, Harry!" the old man ran up to him.

"Hi, Aberforth. Can I help you?"

"Yes!" Dumbledore nodded. "Get me a yeti!"

"A what?" Harry blinked. "Yetis live in the Himalayas! Anyway, why do you need one?" 

"Let me tell you while fishing!"

"Fishing? The lake's frozen!"

"We are going to cut holes in it!" Aberforth replied enthusiastically. "There's nothing as much fun as ice fishing! Very healthy!"

"Oh, sure." Harry rolled his eyes. "All right. I'll dress up and meet you down by the lake."

* * * * *

Harry put on his fur-coat, wrapped a thick, fluffy scarf (knitted by his mother-in-law) around his neck and also put on a cap. As he left his room, he saw a rather upset Hermione coming up to her room that was adjacent to McGonagall's.

"You all right?" he asked.

She burst into her room, slapped a heavy book on her table and said: "Yes!"

"That means a no." he perceived. "Is it to do with Krum?"

"Huh?" she looked up. "Why do you think?"

"Because I saw him five minutes earlier in similar mood. What happened between you?"

"Nothing." she shrugged. "And I'll see to it that nothing will happen, either."

"He's still after you, huh?"

"Seems so." she pursed her lips. "But I don't want him to!"

"I know you don't." he replied. "You know what, Herm? I'm going to defend you from Vicky if you also defend me from his sister."

"His sister?" she gaped.

"Yeah. That Milupa or who. I fear she _likes_ me."

Hermione giggled. "You poor, poor fellow. You seem to be an ugly-girl-magnet. First Millicent Bulstrode, now this chick… really, even their names start with the same three letters! Isn't it funny?"

"I don't think so." he shook his head, laughing. "All right, try and keep Viktor's hands off you and I'll try and not freeze out there while fishing with Aberforth."

* * * * *

Two hours later Harry returned with Aberforth to the castle – frozen to his bones. He had caught seven fish with Dumbledore, who kept blabbering about needing a yeti. Strangely, he wouldn't tell Harry why he needed it, so Harry didn't force him.

With their hands packed with fish, they entered the entrance hall and Harry welcomed the slight warmth of the building. Professor McGonagall had just come down the stairs and looked daggers at them.

After a minute or so Harry realised that the "daggers" were meant for Aberforth only, and not for him. He knew only too well what is was like to make McGonagall angry with himself and didn't desire to do it again.

On the way up their rooms, they walked past the library, and saw Professor Fiodrovna enter it.

"Coming to the kitchen, kid?" Aberforth asked.

"Uh, a bit later, I've just realised I've forgotten something. See you at lunch."

Dumbledore nodded. "Give me that bucket, I'll take it down for the house-elves. I hope they'll roast them for dinner."

Harry handed him his bucket full of fish and waited until Aberforth got out of sight, then he stepped to the library door and peered inside. Tatyana Fiodrovna was sitting at a table, rather absorbed in reading a book.

*Now or never.* he thought and hurried upstairs. He hoped he remembered the way to the mysterious vanishing wall and wouldn't get lost. After a while he arrived at the place he believed to find the secret elevator. 

*Yes, this has to be it.* he nodded in thought and pushed the wall. It didn't even budge. *Oh, of course, the torch needs to be pulled out its bracket!* he scolded himself for being so stupid and got hold of the torch. *Now, let's go.* he touched the wall again, but it was still solid brick. *Is this the right place or have I got lost again?* he looked around. No. He was sure he hadn't got lost. *That woman must have shut down the entrance.* he frowned. *She saw me in there and cast a spell on the wall so that I couldn't get into there again… But why? Why does she want people stay away from that place? Is it another chamber of secrets with another basilisk?* he truly hoped it wasn't. 

"Okay, let's try another way." he murmured. "_Reducio_!" he pointed his wand at the bricks. This charm should have blasted the bricks away, but it didn't. The bricks seemed reluctant to leave their place. "_Diffindo_!" he tried again. "_Alohomora!"_

Nothing.

Disappointed, and still itching to get to know what was in there, he left for his room.

* * * * *

Dennis had spent the whole morning in the library, looking for the plant they'd have to find. He had dipped into a dozen books but didn't manage to find anything. He found a book about Russian plants, but none of them were evergreen. 

"_Atropa belladonna… Circaea lutetiana_… no, none of these." he sighed and slammed the last book shut. "I've had enough." he stood up and headed for the door when a voice called after him.

"Mr. Creevey?"

He turned around to see Durmstrang's Potions teacher, that Professor Fiodrovna beckoning him to herself.

"Yes, Professor? Can I help you?"

"I guess _I _can help you." she replied with a smile. Dennis found her smile oddly repulsive. Not that she was an ugly woman – no, she was pretty, but somehow… he couldn't explain. 

He walked up to her. "What do you mean, Professor?"

"You haven't found anything in connection with the first task, right?"

"Right." he nodded. "But if you intend to help me, I must warn you that I'm not the type… I mean I'm not a cheater."

"I never said you were. Anyway," she pointed at the seat next to her, indicating that she expected him to sit down. He did. "I'm not the cheater type either, and wouldn't help a student… especially not a rival student. I'm rooting for Durmstrang, you know."

"Oh, of course." he nodded. "Understandable."

"Yes. So, I take you haven't looked in this book?" she handed him a very old, thick book with crumpled, yellow pages.

"No." his eyes widened. "You… you've been sitting on this when you knew I was looking for the plant that could only be found in this book?" his voice sounded accusing.

"Sitting on it?" she crossed her arms. "No, actually I haven't realised you were here, until you stood up to leave. I've been looking up a magical plant for a potion I'm going to make."

"Oh, sorry." he blushed.

"Never mind. Now here it is. Use it well." 

Dennis opened the book and started turning over the pages. There were lots of plants there, a whole chapter on Russian magical herbs and flowers. His eyes skimmed the pages, then he cried out with glee: "_Leontopodium nigrum_! Black edelweiss! Lives in high mountains, perennial, evergreen, blooms in winter, it's black blossom can easily be glimpsed in the snow… 5-15 cm high…its white counterpart grows in the mountains of Central and South Europe, though its place of origin was Siberia, thousands of years ago. The Black Edelweiss can only be found in Northern Russia. Its ability of healing wounds caused by evil curses is well-known…" Dennis looked up. "Thank you, professor!", but Tatyana Fiodrovna was no more there. "Professor?" he didn't even realise when she left. *Why has she given me this book? Why is she helping me? She's a Durmstrang teacher! It simply doesn't make sense!* he shook his head and returned to the description of the black edelweiss.

* * * * *

It was already eleven p.m. when Harry decided to go to bed. He had already put on his pyjamas when he heard a tap on the window. It was the owl he had sent Ginny.

He hastily took and unfolded the letter.

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Dearest Harry,

I'm glad you arrived at Durmstrang without any difficulty. There's nothing interesting here, expect that Sirius has taught Lily how to fib. Great achievement. She has also learnt lots of new expressions, but – thanks to Sirius – most of them are bad words. You should come back and kick your godfather in the ankle! 

Fred and George visited us yesterday, their shop is running better and better every day. Mum is absorbed in decorating the new house (yes, imagine, dad managed to persuade her to move out of the Burrow!)

*Good.* Harry thought. Though the Weasleys had had a nice, big house built next to the old, shabby one, Mrs. Weasley had been reluctant to move in for a year after it was built.

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I think I hear wedding bells – last time Percy and Penny visited us, she was wearing a ring that hadn't been there before! (though they didn't tell anyone anything, I immediately noticed it.)

Ron is unhappy without Hermione, so is Hagrid without Olympe.

And so am I without you. 

I love you, Harry. No matter what you think, I love you. I know I behaved foolishly last time – I shouldn't have. I was just so scared. I still am, but I'm sure I'll manage to come to terms with it. 

I wish I could speed up time to have you back for Christmas.

Love,

your Ginny

P.S. tell me more about this Aberforth, he must be a very interesting person!

*Sure, he is.* Harry smiled and looked out the window. "And how much!" he almost yelled. It was near midnight, and he saw Aberforth climb onto his sled and 'drive' away. *Where could he be going now? At the dead of night?* he shook his head. Aberforth _really _was an interesting person – maybe even more so than his brother.

As the sound of the sleigh-bells died away, Harry climbed into his bed, and took off his glasses. "I love you too, Ginny." he whispered into his pillow and fell asleep.


	10. Dear reindeer

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A/N: thanks again for the feedback! I know the story isn't that interesting nowadays, but I promise that after the build-up chapters (about the first half of the fic) you'll get the action and suspense that is missing here. He second half will be much more interesting, but until then the story needs to evolve (even if it does a bit slowly).

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bucky: 30 left.

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blaubaerin: yeah, I do know Milupa, that's why I used it, it was kinda funny :) You'll get to know who Aberforth was visiting :) No, Santa lives not in the Himalaya, but Aby doesn't need to ask anyone for a yeti.

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X_Tow_Naga: all guys are a bit sexist (don't deny it, it's the truth! – unfortunately) Stupefy and the other spells are the same in most languages, IMHO. Most of the spells Rowling uses are in Latin, and all wizards and witches learn the same Latin words throughout the world. (of course there could be a couple of 'national' spells as well, but not many). It was the original plan for Harry to stay at Dursmtrang only for the challenges, but then that little thing with Dan came and he was told by Ginny and Sirius 'to go'. And he decided to come to Dursmtrang and stay for a while – to let Ginny heal. You know the saying: absence makes the heart grow fonder. Yes, there's an anti-apparating charm in Durmstrang, it'll be mentioned in this chapter. I'll explain all ways you could get to Durmstrang later, don't worry, no holes in the plot in this respect (I hope.) Was Dennis the person Tatyana mentioned? Probably. But even if it was Harry, he wouldn't be the centre of the universe – oh, on the contrary! You'll see, just be patient! Hedwig was away with that male owl – Harry didn't even know where she was! That's why he didn't take her to Durmstrang. What is 'sp'? And did you get the pic I sent you or couldn't you view it?

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Nefertiri: no, Tatyana doesn't like Harry at all. No, that's not why she helped Dennis. Why is Aby so eccentric? Because I love writing crazy guys – that's why my fave HP character is Gilderoy! He's absolutely crazy!

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Mikey: yeah, yetis are mentioned in Fantastic beasts and where to find them.

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jeanine23Dr: I know that Aby is nuts, I wrote him to be one :) But I like crazy guys, they're cute.

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Arif: you have partly met Harry's new enemy. Only partly. Herm as detective? Kind of, but not exactly. Hungarian cheese? It's delicious, I think, but I never knew it was famous! You told me something new! :))

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Tessa: Mileta is ugly (not as ugly as Millicent, but not too pretty either), it is Tatyana who is rather pretty.

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Moony Lover: close, but not totally.

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Waldomier: no Tatyana/Snape love, sorry.

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princesswitch: right :)

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Black Ice: chapters 16-19 will be in Black Manor.

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BlueIce: of course, lots of McDonalds in Hungary!

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goldenstar555: whole story written, only small corrections need to be done.

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Mage: in the second half of the story Draco will be a main character.

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Coolio: no, my last fic had not 32, but 34 chapters. But I'm really hoping to top it :)

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star queen: yeah, Percy did it! Oh, I see! How touching story about Natalie McDonald! *sniff* Yeah, I'm planning a third part – when I was half-way in this story I decided to write a trilogy, so there'll be one more story. (but that doesn't mean that I'll stop writing HP fics – I might write about other stories later, that have nothing to do with the "Greatest" series.)

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Aurumlupi: sweetness comes only in chapters 16-19, but there'll be a lot of it, don't worry.

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PUNKsarcasm: I don't know whether people ice fish in U.K., since I'm from Hungary.

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Wood's secret lover: about 70% of the story takes place in Durmstrang. You'll see the pogrebins once more, later. How can Harry go back for Christmas if there's a yule ball? Very easily: in Russia Christmas is two weeks later than in the rest of Europe (because the Orthodox church celebrates it later). So Harry can go back to the British Christmas, then come back for the Russian one. So simple. Read my answer to star queen. (the second half of it)

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Cassandra Anthemyst: Dennis probably didn't find any other magic plants that bloomed in northern Russia in winter.

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apple-pie: no, not a basilisk, of course. I also hate snakes. You'll get to know it later why Tatyana helped Dennis. And you'll get to know where Aby went, later.

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Alice Dumbledore: please, don't get mad at me, but I don't have time to mail people about the updates – I usually update on Mondays and Thursdays/Fridays.

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Rab: sorry, it's too early to tell what the sequel will be about. (though I already know it, of course :)

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xenocide: no, the book Tatyana gave Dennis isn't magical. Is she good or evil? Not telling, you'll get to know in time. I never said that Dennis was the chosen one – he was only chosen to be champion, but… you may never know :)

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Girl In The Mirror: the torch can get back to the other side of the wall through some magic, I guess. I suppose when Harry put it in the place on the inside and the wall 'opened', then the torch got automatically to the other side. How Tatyana got out then? Well, of course the hidden chamber is hers, so she must know more than one way to get through the wall if she wanted. How did she get in if Harry had the torch? The same answer applies for it then for the previous question. You know magic does not always need to be explained, it's just magic and we, plain Muggles will never really understand it :)

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jennyKT: I'm aware that this story is slower, but it'll speed up after the Christmas chapters, I promise. Hm, Dan is too young for me, either… *grin*

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Almah: how could Krum's sister Imperius Harry to do anything with her? Harry can resist Imperius, remember?

TO THOSE WHOSE REVIEWS I HAVEN'T ANSWERED: DON'T BE ANGRY WITH ME, BUT I SIMPLY CANNOT ANSWER ALL REVIEWS, BECAUSE THAT WOULD MAKE THE A/N SECTION LONGER THAN THE ACTUAL CHAPTER. THE OTHER REASON: MANY OF YOU ASK QUESTIONS THAT, IF ANSWERED, WOULD REVEAL TOO MUCH OF THE LATER EVENTS, AND I DON'T WANT TO TELL THINGS IN ADVANCE, BUT I DON'T WANT TO LIE EITHER.

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Chapter 10

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Dear reindeer

Next morning Harry woke in a good mood. He was very happy about Ginny's letter and longed to see her again. However, he wasn't sure whether it was a bit too early to go back to Great Britain or not, so he decided to write a letter to Sirius.

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Dear Sirius,

Yesterday I got a letter from Ginny. She wrote that she loved me and missed me. I also miss her, so much that it hurts! (or is it just my libido? – that was a rhetorical question :-) I truly miss her and long to hold her in my arms again. I'm considering to apparate home for a couple of days before the first task, it's not until 6th December. What do you think? Do you think she's ready for me? I fear that she might not be. It was only two weeks ago that I departed, so I guess it might be early. 

Tell me your opinion, Sirius – is it worth coming home? Has her mood improved?

Answer ASAP!

Harry

P.S. don't you dare teach my daughter bad words, do you hear me???

After he finished his letter, he left his room for the owlery. He turned right on the corner and bumped headlong into Mileta Krum. They both fell, the books she had been carrying scattered on the floor and she 'miraculously' landed in his lap.

"Ouch!" he massaged his head. "Sorry! Didn't see you! I should get new glasses."

"Not your fault, Harry." she smiled, slowly – way too slowly – entangling herself from him. In her effort to sit up, she 'accidentally' brushed his thigh. "I wasn't looking." she reached out for her fallen books.

"Let me help." he said, starting to pick up the books closest to him.

"Uh, thanks." she whispered as he handed her two books. That was when she noticed something. A ring on his right hand. A wedding ring. "You… you are married?" she gasped.

"Yeah. Didn't you know?"

"No." she shook her head, turned on her heels and ran away. Harry would have sworn that he heard her sobbing.

"Oh, my. Why do all ugly girls have to fall in love with me?" he sighed and bent down for his fallen letter. 

"Love-affairs, huh?" the ghost of Yevgheniy Anegin floated out of the wall. "I wish I also had one, but no… my dear Tatyana is lost for me forever!"

"Tatyana?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "You mean Professor Tatyana Fiodrovna?"

"Who?" Anegin snapped. "No! I don't mean this Tatyana, I mean _my_ _Tatyana_!" he waved. "You wouldn't understand, anyway."

Harry shrugged, taking off his glasses. "I really need new ones." he perceived. "I'm getting more and more short-sighted. Had I seen that Mileta…"

"Ah, that wasn't your fault." Anegin replied.

"But I bumped into her."

"No." the ghost shook his head. "_She_ bumped into you. She had been waiting on this corner for about twenty minutes, peering in the direction of your room. Waiting for you to come out so that she could run into you."

"What? That b…" Harry shook his head. "That's my luck. First Millicent, now Mileta… I wish there was a Dudley around to marry her."

"A dudley? What's a dudley?" Anegin asked.

"Never mind." Harry sighed and walked away.

* * * * *

"Good morning, Harry!" Hermione greeted him. "You look concerned. What happened?"

"Mileta." he growled.

"Oh, I understand." she giggled.

"It's not funny, Herm. She's following me around. But you know what? She had no idea I was married. Now she knows, so let's hope that she'll stop tailing me."

"Don't you have another cousin by any chance?" she smiled.

"I do." he grinned. "But he isn't old enough for Mileta." 

"We should find someone to set her up with… But that can wait. Now I'm thinking of visiting St. Petersburg and make my Christmas purchases. Care to come along?"

"Sure. The family would appreciate getting Russian wizarding stuff. We could buy Fred and George a pair of those balalaikas. Imagine, they'd drive Molly crazy with them!"

"See you at ten o' clock in the entrance hall, then." she said cheerfully.

"Um, really, Herm, how are we going there? Apparate?"

"No. You cannot apparate on the Durmstrang grounds. It works exactly like Hogwarts. You need to walk at least one mile away from the castle to be able to apparate. You could also use floo-powder, but now we are going on Aberforth's sled."

"I thought he had left last night. I saw him leave."

"Did you?" she looked surprised. "No idea where he had gone, but he's back, just seen him."

"Then he maybe just felt like going on a nocturnal ride. You may never know when Aberforth's concerned."

"True." she nodded. "Funny man, Dumbledore. I mean… funny men, Dumbledores."

* * * * *

After having met in the entrance hall, they exited the castle to see Aberforth sitting in his sleigh, wearing his usual blood-red cloak and cap (the latter was trimmed with white fur and had a white pompon hanging from its end). "Ho-ho-ho!" he shouted gleefully, waving them. "Come and get in, ladies and gentlemen! The sled is equipped with central heating," he pointed at two blankets, "air-conditioning," he carried on, letting the cold winter wind ruffle his beard, "and room service!" he pointed at a basket, presumably filled with food.

Harry and Hermione got in and tucked themselves in with the blankets that must have been carrying a heating charm, because they were extremely nice and warm. 

"Father Christmas has the same design of sled," Aberforth explained, "small, but roomy enough for all the presents."

Harry squinted at Hermione, who stifled a laugh.

"Um, Aberforth, what are these… paper bags for?" Hermione asked, pointing at two bags hanging from the 'dashboard' of the sleigh.

"I thought you were Muggle-born, Mrs. Weasley." Dumbledore replied with a wide smirk. "Muggles have them on the airplanes, in case the plane gets into an eddy, and the passengers feel sick…"

"Oh…" she chuckled. "How practical. But why are there only two?"

"I don't need it. Got used to it." Aberforth shrugged. "I presume you also got used to hard flights, right, Harry?"

Harry nodded as the sled rose up into the air and set into motion.

"Um, Aberforth, can Muggles see this sleigh?" Hermione asked.

"Well," the old man's voice trailed off, "in spring, summer and autumn I cast an invisibility charm on the sled, but I don't bother with it during winter… whenever people see it, they believe to have seen good ol' Santa Claus."

"Even Muggles aren't that stupid." Harry replied. "Or are they? When they saw Arthur's Ford Anglia flying over whole Great Britain, they got pretty confused. Newspapers were full of articles about it."

"Flying Ford Anglia? How strange." Aberforth said, as though flying sleighs hadn't been strange at all. "And who was driving it?"

"My friend, Ron. Hermione's husband."

"Don't even remind me of it, Harry." she sighed. "That howler next day was really terrible."

"It was nothing compared to having to spend an hour in Snape's room." Harry grimaced. "Anyway, now I admit that I felt sorry about not having a chance to drive that car."

"Driving cars isn't a big deal." Dumbledore stated. "Driving sleds is another thing. Wanna try?" he offered Harry the reins.

"May I?" the young man's eyes widened.

"'Course!" Dumbledore replied. As soon as Harry got hold of the reins, the sleigh lurched forward, much quicker than it had been travelling before.

"Hey!" Harry yelled to the madly racing reindeers. "Slow down!"

"Do something, Harry!" Hermione cried, clutching at both men, fearing she'd be thrown off.

"How do you make them stop, Aberforth?" Harry shouted as the reindeers dived.

"Just try to control them, kid!"

"But hoooooow?" Harry started to get desperate. Hermione had already squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see the ground that was approaching them by a breakneck speed. Or rather… they were approaching it way too quickly.

"Try to find harmony between you and them!" Aberforth instructed.

"Harmony? Are you mad? They're just performing the Wronsky Feint!" Harry yelled back, fearing that the reindeers wouldn't be able to pull out of the dive in time.

"Just do it!"

Harry shot an angry glare at Dumbledore and closed his eyes, trying to relax, trying to find peace and harmony. He let go of his disturbing thoughts, emptied his mind and only concentrated on the eight animals pulling the sled. Suddenly, he felt them. Felt their minds, the life-force they were giving out. And he knew that they felt him, too. *Good… dear reindeers… slow down, please…* his hands weren't jerking the reins anymore, weren't even clutching them so tightly – he barely held them. He barely even felt the touch of the reins in his hands, as though they had been made of some very light material, not thick leather bands. He gently pulled them and felt the sled rise. Now he dared open his eyes.

They were travelling at the same height again, the snowy planes stretching under them as far as the eye could reach. "It's okay, Hermione. You can open your eyes." he whispered.

She – as white as a sheet – opened her eyes and looked around, then suddenly snatched the paper bag from its place, retching. 

"All right, Hermione?" Harry asked.

"Never felt better." she croaked, turning angrily to Dumbledore. "What was this whole stuff, Aberforth? Some joke?"

The old man squinted jovially at her. "Harry wanted to drive. I let him."

"But you knew what would happen, didn't you?" she demanded.

"Kind of expected it." he shrugged. "Tricky animals, reindeers. Especially the sleigh-pulling ones. They are magic creatures, you know, and need to be treated with great caution."

"Aberforth… I felt something." Harry said. "I mean… I felt them through some inexplicable bind. Felt them breath and think… it was weird."

"Weird at first. But that's what magical reindeers do. They think. They cannot form words in their minds, but certain people manage to understand their will."

"Oh my." Harry rolled his eyes. "I hope this doesn't mean I'm a Jedi now."

"A what?" Dumbledore blinked.

"Nothing." Harry and Hermione replied in unison. "Muggle stuff."

"But really, Aberforth, how can reindeers be magical creatures, if they can't be found in our _Fantastic beasts and where to find them_ book?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, that." the old man laughed. "You know, Newt Scamander never believed in Santa Claus, neither in his reindeers. When he wrote his book, there was no proof that magical reindeers existed at all."

"Aha." Harry nodded, handing the reins back to Aberforth. "I think I'd rather not try this again. I have a family to care for, you know."

"You wouldn't need to worry about it, though." Dumbledore replied. "You know how to treat them. It's a great gift, Harry. Not many people possess it."

"Cool." Harry crossed his arms. "That means I'm not only a parselmouth, but a reindeermouth as well?"

"You think I'm barking mad, right?" Aberforth grinned. "Trust me I'm not. You're a lucky one, Harry Potter. Understanding these wonderful creatures is really a gift."

"Do many people um, understand them?" 

"No. Not many. I know of only a couple of people: you, me, the squib guy, Piotr, who is responsible for the stalls… and Santa Claus. That's all. Of course there might be others as well, who haven't discovered their ability yet."

"Lucky ones." Hermione remarked, her face still a nasty shade of green. She saw that Harry was affected by the word 'squib' again, so she decided to turn the conversation to something else: "Is Santa Claus a wizard, Aberforth?" she asked in a sarcastic tone.

"No. Actually he's a Muggle."

"Then who does he fit into those narrow chimneys? And is he able to fly round the world in one night?" Harry asked, bemused. Now he was sure that Aberforth should be taken into St. Mungo or a local lunatic ward.

"Well… let it remain my secret." Dumbledore winked at them. 

"Your secret?" Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Did he reveal it to you?"

"Actually he did. I was eight years old when I got ill at Christmas. High fever and everything. I was lying there and couldn't fall asleep. I heard funny noises and saw a fat guy dressed in red come out of our fireplace. I remember, I even asked him if he had been using floo-powder. He said that he had no idea what floo-powder was, then placed presents under the Christmas tree. He was about to leave when I asked him how he managed to come through the chimney, being so fat and how he managed to get to all children in one night. He laughed and told me the secret, but made me swear never to tell anyone. So I won't."

Harry and Hermione exchanged amused glances. "Are you sure it wasn't just the fever, Aberforth?" Harry asked. "You might have been hallucinating."

"Might have." the old man winked at him again. "Oh, look! St. Petersburg!"

Harry and Hermione leaned forward to admire the view of a huge city lying kilometres away. As they got closer, they managed to make out all the bulb-like spires glittering in the winter sunshine. It was a wondrous sight.

When Hermione was just about to ask where they'd land, Aberforth directed the sled to a small hill outside the city. "Perfect parking place." he said, driving their transport into a cave in the side of the hill.

Aberforth hopped off the sleigh as an old man with long, white beard and his hood pulled over his face walked up to them.

"Hi, Aberforth." he said.

"Hello, Andrey, would you take care of them while we go shopping?" Dumbledore patted the head of the closest reindeer.

"Of course." the other old man replied.

Aberforth thanked him and hurried out onto the fresh air. The two young people followed him with their eyes.

"It's time we arrived." Hermione growled, happy to get off. "I hate flying."

"After today, I can't say I love it, either." Harry made a wry face. "Damn reindeers."

Strangely, all eight reindeers turned their heads back at him, and he would have sworn that they looked hurt.

"Well, at least Aberforth had some fun." he shrugged. "Nearly go us killed, though. He didn't know whether I'd be able to communicate with these animals or not. It seems both Dumbledores we know like risks. It's in their blood."

"Now you tell me." she sighed. "We'd better be careful with him. He's a mortal peril for everyone, even for himself."

"Yeah. Even more so than Albus." Harry answered, walking past the hooded old man who was watering the reindeers. "I'm just wondering why they had a row."

"Did they have one?" Hermione looked intrigued.

"Uhum. Aberforth said it was the reason why he had left England." 

"I can picture the two of them, shooting jelly-leg jinxes and Furunculus curses at each other." she chuckled, heading for the opening of the cave. Before they exited the cave, he leaned closer and whispered into her ear: "Do you think he _really _believes in Santa Claus?"

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A/N2: stay tuned for next chapter: the Russian 'Diagon Alley'. It will be the longest chapter of this fic so far.


	11. Shopping and sobbing

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A/N: thanks for the reviews as always! :))) 

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Crazycutee831: no, Mileta won't make a love potion.

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Kit Cloudkicker: you'll get to know what the row was about… in the final chapter *evil grin*

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Moony Lover: I started the sequel, but there's still a lot to do with this fic as well. No, Anegin's Tatyana has nothing to do with the Potions prof – you should read Pushkin's Anegin, it's a really good epic. The main character is a Byron like guy – Jevgheniy Anegin. He is quite rich and feels that his life isn't worth anything. Then he meets a girl called Tatyana, and the girl falls for him, but he doesn't want her, because he is sure that he would only make her unhappy. Years later he meets Tatyana again – then she is already married to a Russian prince. Then Anegin falls for Tatyana and wants to get her, but she tells him that she won't cheat on her husband. So the story has a sad ending, poor Anegin is left alone. I only made a bit of a joke of him in this fic, nothing more. You'll get to know about the hidden chamber in time.

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X_Tow_Naga: wow, the longest review so far! About Harry's glasses: this is not my task to explain, ask Rowling! About the yeti: sorry, I might disappoint you (or maybe not, we'll see). By saying 'central heating' Aberforth meant the blankets (he even pointed at the blankets, it was just a joke, you know how silly he is). Why is the sled visible all winter? Well, maybe Santa is making joyrides :) How can a reindeer look hurt? Well, to normal people the reindeers surely didn't show any emotions, it was just Harry who thought they looked hurt – remember, he has a special connection to them. I'm not telling about the Black Manor scenes in advance, be patient. Why are there only Christians? That was quite a stupid question: this story isn't about religions, you know. Anyway, there were enough Moslems and Hindi in TGSoHH.

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Mikey: we in Hungary usually get the HP books 3-4 months after the British/American release, because our translator (who is an absolute genius, his text is better than Rowling's) needs time to translate it. I've read the HP books 7 times in Hungarian, 3 times in English and now I've just finished the first one in German (it was much worse than in English and Hungarian).

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Baby Angel: thanks a lot.

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Arif: no, by saying that you have meet the bad guy 'partly' I didn't mean anything about splinching. You'll see later. I made my friend translate your Spanish sentences in SMS. I didn't understand a thing, I'll only start Spanish during the summer I guess. I'm glad that you liked the pic, but it's by far not my best HP pic (though I don't have my fave pic – Harry in front of the Mirror of Erised – scanned yet, I might ask my friend to do it for me later.)

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aurora riddle: hm, I thought that eddy meant the same as turbulance, see there are many things I don't know in English :( Harry saying that all ugly girls fall for him didn't mean that he had such a big ego, he didn't tell it to anyone, did he? He only muttered it to himself – he isn't that stuck-up to tell it to anyone and hurt someone.

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Tessa: no, sorry, but Aberforth will keep Santa's secret. (don't worry, you'll get to know other secrets from him later – for example his story with the goat.)

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Rab: read my answer to Tessa. Balalaika is a Russian music instrument that looks a bit like a guitar. About Anegin's Tatyana read my answer to Moony Lover.

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Waldomier: read my answer to Tessa. In Hungary people wear their wedding rings on the right hand, I don't know where they wear it in England and other countries.

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jennyKT: Dan? He is only five months old. Or did you mean Dennis? He is sixteen years old. 

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PepsiAngel: yes, pyjama is the British spelling for pajama. So, you're a Gilderoy fan? Great! I'm definitely going to read your fic! GOOOOOOO GILDY!!!!

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Mage: not telling about the Black Manor part in advance, have patience! :)

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Harrysgirl: I hope you have healed by now.

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HpgoldySnitch: I'm happy to see you again!

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Xixi105: in my humble opinion this fic isn't better than the first one – yet. But my mom (my beta reader, who read it to the end) said that it was better than TGSoHH, so I tend to believe her :) (I'm going to read your poem soon.)

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Rubyjuls1722: is Spanish that hard? Strange, my best friend studied only two months and got a language certificate in it – well, I'll see soon whether it's hard or not – I'm going to start Spanish during the summer, I think.

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thebiggesthpfan: whole fic finished, but still correcting it.

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Maddy: I also like the smurfs, especially that one with the glasses, I don't know his name in English – he is so much like Percy, isn't he?

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teacherchez: don't worry, there will be a Voldie dream mentioned in… chapter 13! Oh, imagine, last night I dreamed that I was reading HP book five. Cho died in there, got mummified and was put into a sarcophagus! (And Harry was crying over her…) I'm reading a book called 'The pharaoh', so I'm sure that's why I mixed HP with mummies in my dream :)

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spangle*star: yeah, it's different here – people wear wedding rings on the right hand. Strange, huh?

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Gwen Fifortry: you're making me blush!

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BlueIce: I'd like cheese-burger with no cheese in Hungarian: "sajtburgert kérek sajt nélkül".

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LeaniG: no.

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Cassandra Anthemyst: read my answer to spangle*star. You know The Dragon?

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I AM THE BEST AUTHOR: let me congratulate you on being the best author. May I ask something: if my story is fucking shit, then why have you read it till chapter 10? (it was just a rhetorical question.)

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haaaahahaha (or whatever): flames only mean that the flamer is envious of the author. No more comment.

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Lana Potter: read my answer to Rab.

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zzxm: of course you'll see Hedwig again, I like her, too.

Nefertiri: you'll see Albus (twice), but he won't have too much of a role. There'll be a bit of Hogwarts as well.

xenocide: it's a gift given to a few random people, just like the Force with the Jedi, you know. Read my answer to spangle*star.

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K. C. Hunter: Vronsky, huh? Well, in my fic he'll be called Wronsky. (I haven't read Anna Karenina yet, but I'm planning to do so during the summer. I only saw the movie with Sean Bean and Sophie Marceau, it was cool.) May I ask where you are from?

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Pumpkin3223: Sirius doesn't deliberately teach bad words to Lily, he just says them and she learns them – you know what kids are like, they say expressions they don't even understand. No, sorry, Aby will keep his secret about Santa, but I promise that he'll reveal another interesting secret… about the goat. Torch is torch in British English as well, there's no 'u' in there. Yes, I heard that it might be the title of book 6, but then I heard that it was just a rumour. Well, we'll see. (oh, and don't worry, you weren't flaming me! Flames were only those that I AM THE BEST AUTHOR and hahahahhaaa wrote for me, but I don't care for them at all!)

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your fan: thank you, I know that they are only envious, I told them as well (not that they'd read my answer to them) I also share your opinion that they are cowards. Cowards do that all the time: write flames without signing in. You know what? I didn't realise that English wasn't your first language, you speak it (write it) very well! Gracie for the review!

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The Face of Evil: Barthy Crouch streak? Kind of… and still not. You'll see. (btw, I'm happy to see you again, Aditya!)

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obi_ewan_maul_lover: holy Snitch! I totally gave up on seeing you again! So of course I'm very happy now! :)) 

TO THOSE WHOSE REVIEWS I HAVEN'T ANSWERED: DON'T BE ANGRY WITH ME, BUT I SIMPLY CANNOT ANSWER ALL REVIEWS, BECAUSE THAT WOULD MAKE THE A/N SECTION LONGER THAN THE ACTUAL CHAPTER. THE OTHER REASON: MANY OF YOU ASK QUESTIONS THAT, IF ANSWERED, WOULD REVEAL TOO MUCH OF THE LATER EVENTS, AND I DON'T WANT TO TELL THINGS IN ADVANCE, BUT I DON'T WANT TO LIE EITHER.

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Chapter 11

Shopping and sobbing

Aberforth led Harry and Hermione to a fur-coat shop – the text '_Rasputin's mink, fox, ocelot coats – their original owners never felt cold in them!'_ was shining in the shop-window, both in Russian and English.

"We don't need new coats, Aberforth." Harry remarked. "Mine is warm enough… if only those pogrebins would stop attacking me!"

"We aren't here to buy coats." the old man replied cheerfully. "Mine is also warm and elegant enough." he straightened himself proudly in his Santa Claus-ish coat. 

"Then? What are we doing here?" Harry asked.

"I know it." Hermione smiled. "This is the entrance to the wizarding St. Petersburg."

"Really?" the young man raised an eyebrow. "Oh well, you've been here once, after all."

"Follow me." Aberforth said and they entered the shop. 

It was a nice, elegant shop with lots of beautiful and expensive fur-coats. There was a notice board propped against the wall, saying: _We are looking for shop assistants _

Aberforth – seeing the board – stifled a laugh. Harry had no idea what could be so funny.

Two shop assistants hurried up to them with wide smiles. "Can we help you, lady and gentlemen?" they asked.

"Well, let us look around a bit." Dumbledore replied. "We haven't decided yet what kind of coats we need."

"Certainly, sir." one of the shop assistants bowed slightly. They were very young and enthusiastic – this was their first day in this shop and they wanted to make a good impression on the customers and the owner as well.

Aberforth headed for the back of the shop, pretending to be interested in a nice, warm coyote-fur-coat. 

"And now?" Harry whispered.

Hermione beckoned him to a dressing room. He entered and saw three mirrors on each wall of the dressing room. Aberforth somehow managed to squeeze himself in either, and pulled the curtain to hide the cubicle. 

"Aberforth, why do they need shop-assistants if there's already two of them?" Harry asked, looking around in the small cabinet.

"I'll explain later." the old man replied, his eyes jovially glinting. "Watch this." he tapped the mirror on the wall in the middle with his wand. Suddenly the mirror's surface seemed to ripple and dissolve, producing a human-sized opening.

"Not bad." Harry said and all three of them entered the wizard quarter of St. Petersburg.

* * * * *

"Where have they gone?" one of the shop assistants asked the other.

"No idea, Ivan." the other shrugged. "People just come in and disappear without leaving the shop."

"I know, Grisa, but it's simply creepy. I start to believe that this place is haunted. Ghosts come and take our customers."

"Nah. Why would they?" Grisa drawled. "If there were ghosts in here, they'd take us first, wouldn't they?"

"And what if it's some kind of a trick of our competitors? For example those unbearable _Three Sisters_ in the next street. They want to lure our customers to their shop!"

"Even if they wanted, they wouldn't just kidnap them from our shop without us noticing, would they?"

"Oh, look, a new customer!" Grisa said. "But… he's coming out from the back of the shop! I don't remember having a client looking like this today. Am I going crazy?"

"No." Ivan sighed. "We both are going crazy. I suggest we hand in our notices and go find a job in the _Three Sisters'_ fur-coat shop."

Grisa nodded, and they both watched the man, wearing a robe-like overcoat, saying good day to them and leave the shop.

One hour later the owner of _Rasputin's fur-coat shop_ put the sign _We are looking for shop assistants_ into the shop-window, heaving a resigned sigh. It was the sixty-fourth time this year he was looking for new shop assistants, because none of those spent more than three days in his shop. "Damn bad-luck." he murmured, believing that the _Three Sisters_ had tampered with his shop. 

He decided to make an inventory to see whether something had been stolen, but he already knew that nothing would be missing. It was the forty-seventh time this year that he had made an inventory, but nothing ever was missing. He didn't understand it. Not at all.

He shook his head in disbelief, seeing that no one had stolen anything. Only his customers were missing.

"I'm going to the police this time." he pledged. "Or to the court. No one's entitled to steal my customers!"

* * * * *

"Wow! I like this place!" Harry said, looking around in the cobble-stoned street they got into. It was so different from the wizarding Cairo and Calcutta he had visited two years before, and even quite different from Diagon Alley, too. Somehow it seemed wilder. 

They crossed the marketplace where witches and wizards were waving fish at them, yelling that they were really delicious and had been caught in the morning from the Baltic Sea. There were a lot of old people among them. The old women were wearing large shawls, the old men cloaks with hoods that hid their faces.

"Why are they wearing such funny hooded cloaks?" Harry asked Aberforth.

"Well… that's the local custom for old wizards and witches… they don't like to show their wrinkly faces." Dumbledore shrugged. "See, not everyone is as lucky as me, to have a face as smooth as a baby's bottom!"

Harry rolled his eyes. Not that Aberforth didn't look cool for his age, but this baby's bottom thing was a bit of an overstatement.

As they arrived at a round square with a frozen fountain in the middle, they caught a glimpse of a dancing bear. 

Seeing the surprise on Harry's face, Dumbledore explained that the bear had been tamed and taught to dance by bear-leaders. It had always been a special spectacle at fairs since the medieval ages.

"That bear," Aberforth added, "is the property of the owner of that inn over there." he pointed at a pub. "Tancuyutsiy Medved."

"What?" Harry and Hermione asked in unison.

"_The Dancing Bear_. That's the name of the pub. Special place." he winked at them.

"I can imagine how special it is." Harry grinned, remembering The Leaky Cauldron. "And now? Where do we go?"

"Well, first I'm going to go there." Aberforth pointed at a bookshop called _Bestseller_. "It's the only bookshop in whole Russia where you can get wizard books in English. Care to join, Hermione? I heard you loved books."

"Maybe later, Aberforth. First I need to buy presents for the family."

"All right, then let's meet here in three hours, shall we?"

Harry and Hermione nodded and continued their way along the street.

"What exactly are we looking for, Herm?" he asked. "I have no idea what to buy for Ginny, Sirius, Ron and the others. We even should buy something for Viktor, shouldn't we?"

" Of course we should. I just don't know, what! Well, at least I know what to buy Molly."

"What?"

"Something typically Russian: a samovar. I guess this is the right shop to find it." she stopped before an iron-vessel shop.

"I don't really feel like going in there." Harry said. "I'd rather look at that arts-products shop over there."

"Okay. See ya later." said Hermione and entered the iron-vessel shop.

Harry headed for the shop that sold all kinds of products of popular art. There were plates with painted bears on them, balalaikas, fur-caps with the text _I love St. Petersburg_ embroidered in them and a whole range of shelves full of funny-looking little figures that had only a head and a torso, but no arms and legs. 

"What are these figures?" Harry asked a pretty female shop assistant.

"They are called matroshka dolls, sir." the young woman smiled at him. "Excellent present for children and childish adults."

*Childish adults?* Harry grinned. *Arthur Weasley, maybe?*

"And how do people play with them?" he asked.

"Easily. They take them apart and put them back together. I'll show." the woman took a five inches tall figure (that strangely resembled Professor Trelawney) from the shelf and pulled its head. The figure's upper and lower part divided to reveal a smaller figure inside it. The woman took the small figure and pulled it apart, too. There was a third figure in it, and a fourth in the third one, etc. There were seven little dolls in each other.

"Brilliant! My daughter will love this!" Harry said. "And my father-in-law, too. He simply loves to take things apart then put them back together."

"How many would you like to have, then?" the shop assistant asked.

"Two, please. And could you suggest me something for a mother-in-law?"

"Well, what about a nice, embroidered table-cloth?"

Not much later Harry stopped by a shop-window that was full of bottles, a board hanging above them: _Quality Wizard Vodka_. *Hagrid would love to try it. And Sirius, too. Not to mention Fred and George. But they'll get their balalaikas as well.* He was wondering, though, what the difference could be between simple vodka and wizard vodka. 

In the shop the assistant – a man with a rather copper nose – explained that Wizard Vodka could even more easily knock you out, because it also contained something called Veela essence. Harry didn't want to know what the heck Veela essence was. 

Ten minutes later he exited the shop, carrying several bottles of Wizard Vodka.

He had bought presents for almost everyone, with the exception of Ron, Hermione and Ginny.

For Hermione he decided to buy a book in that shop Aberforth showed.

As for Ron, he had no idea what to buy. He stopped before a sweets shop, but shook his head and continued his way – Russian chocolate was famous for being inedible for people who were used to Mars bars, or in wizards' case, Honeydukes sweets.

Buying a nice present for Ginny was also a problem. Harry wanted to surprise her with something special. But what?

Harry started to realise that his packages were getting heavy. He put a quick spell on them to make them feather-light and headed for the end of the street. The Muggle part of St. Petersburg must have been right behind the bakery, because he heard noises of car horns. The very last shop next to the bakery was a jeweller's shop.

"Aha!" Harry's face lit up.

As he entered, he saw a wizened little man standing behind the counter, deeply immersed in examining something with a magnifying glass. He didn't even notice the customer.

Harry cleared his throat and stepped closer.

The little man looked up and somewhat unwillingly put down the magnifier and the little red, glittering gem he had been examining.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Yes, actually you can. I'm looking for something pretty for my wife."

"Ah, your wife." the old man smiled benignly. "Is she a witch?" Harry nodded. "Do you love her very much?"

"More than life itself." Harry replied. "She's my everything."

"So she deserves something special…" the old man mused. "Special, special… she's someone you wouldn't want to lose, huh?" 

"No way." Harry shook his head. "Once I almost lost her. You can't imagine what I felt then."

"I guess I can." the old man smiled. "And you know, I happen to have something that would be just perfect for your wife. Something pretty and useful at once. Something to assure her security."

"What?" Harry's eyes widened.

"This gem here." the old man showed him the same piece of red gem he had been admiring when Harry entered.

"Is it magical? How does it work? What do you mean that it can assure her security?"

"This is a very new invention, young man." the shopkeeper replied. "This is called _gemma vis vitalis_. It works in pair with another of the same kind of gem. These two gems have to be set into your wedding rings and they'll show you whether the other is all right. These gems are fuelled by the magic in your bodies and while the gem in your ring glows in a steady way it means that your wife is all right. Her ring shows her the same about you. If something happens to either of you, the other will know it, because the gems notify you."

"Notify? How?" Harry asked, intrigued.

"If either of you gets into trouble, the gems in the other's ring start to flicker, showing the peril."

"But… even if it does, it's not much help if I don't know where she is at the moment." Harry remarked. He was determined not to buy any trash. 

"Oh, but you will know." the old man replied. "For there is an incantation that creates a bind between your rings and through that bind you'll know where she is. That bind will be operated by the magic in both of you. Thus you'll find her wherever she is and she'll find you wherever you are."

"What guarantee do I get that this thing works?" Harry was still sceptic.

"Hm, well, well, well, tricky customer, huh?" the shopkeeper grinned. "Let's give a demonstration, then." he reached into a glass case and pulled out a ring, taking one of the gems into his hand. He tapped the gem with his wand and whispered: "_Compono gemma et anulus_." The gem suddenly merged into the ring. He took another ring from the glass case and repeated the spell, merging the other gem into the other ring.

"There. Here's this one, put it on." Harry did so, and the shopkeeper also put on the ring he was holding. "And now, the other incantation…" the old man tapped both rings with his wand, whispering: "_Coniungo per vis magica_." Then he walked up to the door and put a CLOSED sign on it. "And now I'm going to disapparate. Try and find me with the help of the ring."

He vanished with a pop.

"But how?" Harry shouted after him, but too late. "Damn him, how will I find him now?" he looked at his ring, then closed his eyes and concentrated on the other person connected to his ring. He felt a funny tug, as though something had pulled him, holding his ring finger. When he opened his eyes, he was sitting next to the old man in a rather noisy bar.

"Welcome to _The_ _Dancing Bear_." the old man cackled, seeing the astonishment on the young man's face. "Worked, didn't it?"

"How much is it?" Harry asked.

* * * * *

The last place Harry visited was the _Bestseller_ bookshop at the other end of the street. He was surprised to see that there were more books then in _Flourish and Blotts_. Behind a high bookshelf he found Aberforth, who was flipping over the pages of one highly familiar book: _Year with a Yeti _by Gilderoy Lockhart.

"This books sucks." Harry stated. "Believe me, it was a set book in my second year. Lockhart never did those things he wrote about. Never even met a yeti."

"Still, this is the only book I could found about yetis." Dumbledore replied. "I'm going to buy it."

Harry shrugged and moved on to find something for Hermione and Ron. Soon he caught a glimpse of a book called _The Snitches of Eastwick_. Right next to it stood a book called_ My Quidditch Career_ by Viktor Krum. "Never knew he wrote a book." Harry took it off the shelf and opened it. It was some kind of a biography, but with lot of pieces of technical advice to Quidditch players. *Ron will love this. He's always been such a great admirer of Krum.*

For Hermione he bought a book called _Pride and Polyjuice, a witch's guide to exotic potions_. 

Before leaving the shop, Harry saw Dumbledore inspecting books on a shelf with only Muggle literature. 

After having finished shopping, Harry, Aberforth and Hermione headed for the exit/entrance to Rasputin's fur-coat shop. 

"Hello." Harry told the owner of the shop, walking past him to the door.

"Good afternoon." Hermione added with a brilliant smile and rushed after Harry.

"Have a nice day." Aberforth grinned at the resigned guy and left the shop.

"I'm going to Moscow." the owner sighed. "To the High Court. And get the Three Sisters imprisoned… or should I see a psychiatrist, instead?"

* * * * *

The sun had already set when they arrived back at the Durmstrang castle. 

"Oh, what a day!" Hermione sighed contentedly. "Except from that mad-reindeer-ride, I thoroughly enjoyed it. But now I'm extremely tired."

"Me too." Harry stifled a yawn. "Coming upstairs, Herms?"

"Soon. I need to talk to professor McGonagall first." she looked at Minerva, who was talking to Olympe Maxime at the door of the great hall.

"Good night, then." Harry said. "Are you coming up, Aberforth?"

"Er, no." the old man replied, his eyes fixed on Minerva. "Gotta talk to someone."

Harry walked upstairs and dumped all his purchases onto his bed, then started sorting them and stuffing them into the wardrobe.

Having packed everything away, he was just about to start to undress when he heard voices from the corridor.

"Don't you understand that I'm not interested?" McGonagall's voice shrieked.

"But Minerva… er, Ms. McGonagall… I only wanted to apologise for being so rude to you the other day."

"Rude? That's a grave understatement, Mr. Dumbledore!" she spat.

"Tsk, tsk, you are overreacting things, Ms. McGonagall! You shouldn't get so nervous… it might be dangerous at your age!"

"At my age???" she shouted. "Don't start that again! You're at least forty years older than me, your crazy old scoundrel!"

"Scoundrel?" Aberforth laughed. "I love the sound of that. I think you like me because I'm a scoundrel."

"Where do you get your delusions from?" Minerva snapped. "What makes you think I like you? No, Mr. Dumbledore, on the contrary. I like your brother, because he is a real gentleman, but definitely not you!"

"Oh, my brother!" Aberforth snapped. "My oh-so-perfect, oh-so-wonderful brother! Go and tell him how much you adore him!

"Adore him? I don't adore him, I just think that he's a gentleman and a wonderful headmaster!" she replied.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, Ms McGonagall!" Aberforth growled and banged his door shut.

"Wow… that was some row." Harry whispered to himself. "But… why are they always quarrelling?" strangely he felt wide awake now, all his drowsiness had disappeared. Now he was curious. What was going on between these two people? And what had taken place between Albus and Aberforth Dumbledore decades ago?

After he heard Minerva's door slam shut, either, he exited his room with the intention of finding Hermione. Maybe she knew more than he did.

He had walked two floors down when he heard something. Something sounding like someone crying. Whoever they were, they needed to be consoled, and Harry was determined to help if he could.

He turned left into the corridor on the second floor. It was very dark, only three or four candles were flickering on the walls. There was a figure sitting in a doorframe, slightly trembling.

"Hey, are you all right?" Harry asked, not knowing whom he was talking to.

"No." the form replied with a familiar female voice.

"Mileta?"

The girl looked up and wiped her tears away. "Harry? What are you doing here?"

"And what are _you _doing here?" he asked back.

"Crying. Don't you see?" she replied defiantly. 

"And why are you crying?" he sat down next to her.

"Because no one likes me." she sniffed.

"Here." Harry handed her a tissue.

"Thanks." she blew her nose.

"Why do you think that no one likes you?"

"Because it's really so." she shrugged. "My classmates hate me because I'm the sister of the headmaster and they think he's favouring me."

"And is it true?"

"No." she shook her head. "But people still think he does. They are sure Viktor had tampered with the Goblet so that it'd choose me."

"Oh, I know how you feel. When I got selected by the Goblet – as fourth champion – everyone hated me, even my best friend, Ron. They thought I had cheated to get into the Tournament. But after the first task they realised that I was wrongfully accused and started treating me normally again. Maybe that's what your friends also need: time. You just fight for Durmstrang as well as you can, and believe me, they'll start respecting and liking you again."

"I wish you were right." she sighed. "If only they'd stop hating me for being Viktor's sister… they don't even know how much Viktor _isn't _favouring me."

"What do you mean?"

"He… he even forgot my birthday. Today's my birthday and my brother totally forgot it!" she burst into tears again.

"Hey, it's okay, it's okay." he put an arm around her, patting her head gently. "He's very busy, you know. Having to arrange the tournament and everything…"

"But it's still no excuse for forgetting about my seventeenth birthday!" she snapped.

"No, it's really no excuse." Harry agreed. "Has no one else remembered it? Your parents, maybe?"

"Don't know. They haven't sent me any presents, so I guess they forgot it, too." a last huge teardrop coursed down her cheek.

"I know how it feels when people forget your birthday. My Muggle relatives used to forget it every year. Those two or three times I remembered them of it, they gave me stinky socks and a clothes-hook as a present… I really know how you feel… if only I could help you… make up for this terrible day."

"But you can!" she suddenly grasped his hand with tear-soaked, but delighted face. "Do you really want to cheer me up?"

"Well, of course."

"Then come!" she pulled him with herself, down the stairs, turn right, turn left, then finally she opened a door and tossed him in.

"Where are we?" Harry asked her.

"My room." she replied. 

"Your…? Oh, no!" he started to protest. "I'm not supposed to…"

"Hey, it's not what you think." she blushed, leading him to the fireplace. "We are going to use floo-powder."

"And where are we going?" he started to dislike the situation.

"To a place where we can celebrate my birthday!" she said delightedly, taking a pinch of floo-powder into her hand. "_The Dancing Bear_!" she vanished into the flames.

"That bar? Again?" Harry groaned, but took a bit of floo-powder himself. He felt responsible for the girl's activities. He couldn't turn back and let her down now. "_The Dancing Bear!"_

* * * * *

"Herm-own-ninny?" Krum called after Hermione as she headed for the staircase, carrying the packages she'd bought in the town.

"Yes?" she doubled back.

"Could we talk? Please…" he shot her a Bambi-like glance.

"I'm tired, Viktor. I've been shopping all day, and my journey to St. Petersburg hasn't been too pleasant, either."

"It was Aberforth, right?" he chuckled. "His mad reindeers."

Her eyes widened. "What? He made you drive the sled, either?"

"Yep. And we almost crashed with a Muggle plane."

"But… but you managed to control the animals at the end, didn't you?"

"What? Me? Controlling those beasts?" he groaned. "No. Aberforth took the reins back in the last moment and so we survived."

"Strange." Hermione whispered.

"What's strange?" Krum asked, intrigued.

"Let's talk about it later, shall we?"

"Why not now? We could go someplace…"

"Where?"

"Um, I thought we could talk by a bottle of wine or something… I know a nice, cosy place in St. Petersburg. I'm sure you'd like it."

"Well, actually I've just come back from there, but… okay." Hermione replied. "I go up and change. I need to fresh up myself a bit…"

"I'll wait for you here." Viktor replied with a smile.

"Oh, and Viktor…" she turned back from the stairs. 

"Yes?"

"Isn't that cosy place called _The Dancing Bear_, by any chance?"

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A/N: before you ask how could Mileta have an own room (especially my friend, X_Tow_Naga who always goes into details): maybe she's a prefect or something. I decided that she needed an own room. (Oh, to X_Tow_Naga again: don't ask me about the floo-powder route to the bar, it'll be explained in chapter 26, I guess. Anyway, I guess it's forbidden for students to 'escape' from the school through the floo-network, but in TGSoHH they also did it, so why wouldn't Durmstrang students do the same?)

You might be wondering what those Latin expressions meant, so here are the explanation:

gemma vis vitalis = gem of life power

compono gemma et anulus = to combine the gem and the ring

coniungo per vis magica = to create a bind through magic power 

I don't speak Latin, I only took these things from a dictionary, so they might not be proper, sorry.

I apologise to the Russians for saying that their chocolate was inedible, but it's the truth that if you are used to Milka then you won't find it delicious. Forgive me, please!

Stay tuned for chapter 12, a very funny chapter! (the one I enjoyed writing the most of all – you'll see, why :) 


	12. I'd like to dance all night

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A/N: dear, Readers, I hope that soon you'll start to like the fic again and forgive me for the boring build-up chapters.

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Kristen Michelle: you'll get your mom read it?????? Is she also a HP fan? My mom is a great HP fan – she is my beta reader! Cornelius Fudge? Hm… he might be a Voldie fan in disguise, though he seems to be too stupid for that :)

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LupinsLover: no, there'll be no triangle between Albus, Aby and Minerva. Minerva just says she hates Aby.

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X_Tow_Naga: I think most of the shopkeepers speak English, nowadays it's really fashionable for people in the East European countries to be able to speak English. No, Harry didn't get anything for the baby, he's way too young. He'll get lots of presents when he is older. Yes, the rings allow you to apparate to the other's exact location. The coat-shop owner cannot prove anything, but he was furious and when you're angry you say silly things without thinking. About Mileta's birthday – you'll find out in next chapter. About the glasses: you wrote that new glasses were made using Muggle technology – not necessarily: do you think that Minerva and Albus also went to Muggles to get their glasses? I don't think so. Anyway, I guess Harry has so much got used to his old ones that he would feel strange with new ones. And just to imagine Harry WITHOUT glasses… uh… he's sexy with those glasses! Anyway, he might buy new glasses soon, but I'm not sure when. Milka is a very famous (I guess Swiss) chocolate. In Europe it's really famous, but you might not know it in America (you don't know what you're missing! It's the best chocolate in the world!)

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Tessa: thanks for the correction. Mileta is up to anything (almost anything), you'll see. Harry and Ginny will meet again in chapter 16.

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Mikey: yes, the text of the HP books is funnier in Hungarian than the original English one, I think our translator is really creative! I simply adore him!

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Moony Lover: what will happen to Ginny? Hm… be patient :) Don't expect the story to end soon, we haven't even reached the one-third of it! I'm glad you like Milka, yummy! 

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PepsiAngel: do not feel sorry for Mileta! :))) No, Minerva doesn't have a thing for Albus, she likes him as a friend, nothing else. 

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Cassandra Anthemyst: I know that you're waiting for the plot – as is everyone else – but I must again ask for your patience. I promise that the story is going to get more interesting soon – but the "bomb" will go off only later. I hope that at least some of my readers will have patience till then and won't leave me…

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Waldomier: no, I don't speak a word in Russian. 39 chapters.

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Aurumlupi: sorry, I cannot reveal anything yet.

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CaittyLin: the bar isn't run by a dancing bear, it's called The Dancing Bear, but its owner is a woman, just like Madame Rosmerta.

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Daydream: sorry, but I don't send mails to people about the updates. Don't get mad at me, please! 

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star queen: no, I didn't study Russian history, just general and Hungarian history. So you have a theory about Mileta's future? Um… you could write it to me in your next review, so that I could tell you: "no, it won't happen like that at all." :)))))

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Coolio: thanks for the encouragement! I really need that nowadays.

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jennaration: I've been already told about this by Tessa. I'll try and use less of "either". (I don't know why, I like that word, it sounds better than "too".)

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Wood's secret lover: of course it would be easier to put the entrance to the Russian Diagon Alley into a wizard shop, but it's much more fun this way. Anyway, the owner might go mad soon and a witch/wizard might buy the place (though I'm not going to write anything more about the fur coat shop).

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Derkaun Zarion: thanks for the help in Latin.

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HarryPotterCC1: good to see you again.

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Pumpkin3223: thank you, but I myself don't believe it anymore :( I've become discouraged. I'm really grateful for all nice reviews nowadays, and I'm also grateful to all my faithful readers. They won't regret being faithful.

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STARGIRL: I know that Rowling never wrote that people could use floo at Hogwarts, but she never said either that it was impossible. I assumed already in TGSoHH that under certain circumstances people needed to be able to travel by floo – though it was forbidden for the students. I know it's not really possible in the real HP story, but in my fic it is. As you have reminded me I'm nowhere as good as J.K. (I never said I was half as good as her), so don't expect me to write as perfectly as she does. Harry didn't really mean his remark about ugly girls, that was a slip of the tongue, but you know him: he is so kind-hearted and generous that he is nice to the ugly girls as well (as you will see in this chapter, if you'll read it at all. But if you only skim through the chaps, then later you might not understand some details that will be important.)

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DeViL MoOn: things that seem not to make sense now, will turn out to be really important later. When this story nears its end, we can discuss (if you want to) what doesn't make sense – but not until then.

TO THOSE WHOSE REVIEWS I HAVEN'T ANSWERED: DON'T BE ANGRY WITH ME, BUT I SIMPLY CANNOT ANSWER ALL REVIEWS, BECAUSE THAT WOULD MAKE THE A/N SECTION LONGER THAN THE ACTUAL CHAPTER. THE OTHER REASON: MANY OF YOU ASK QUESTIONS THAT, IF ANSWERED, WOULD REVEAL TOO MUCH OF THE LATER EVENTS, AND I DON'T WANT TO TELL THINGS IN ADVANCE, BUT I DON'T WANT TO LIE EITHER.

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Chapter 12

I'd like to dance all night

Harry stumbled out of a fireplace into the small, cosy inn that was filled with laughing people. A band was playing Russian folk-melodies and several couples were dancing in the middle. The air was filled with the smell of roast boar (or at least it looked like boar, but you may never know… Harry had once heard a story about Russian wizards eating wolves.)

"Come!" Mileta took him by the hand and led him up to a vacant table.

"Pleasant place." he said, sitting down. "It reminds me a bit of _The Three Broomsticks_." suddenly he remembered Sirius telling him about his secret affair with Madame Rosmerta.

"Why are you smiling like that?" Mileta asked.

"Just a funny memory." he replied. "I don't know about you, but I'm starving. I missed dinner… so, let's order something, shall we?"

"All right. I haven't eaten anything since lunch, either." 

"Waiter, please!" Harry beckoned the pub's only waiter to their table.

"Yes, sir? Would you like to order a drink?"

"Well, actually I'd like to order something to eat first. Could you suggest something special… but not too special?"

"Not too special?" the waiter raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by _not too special_, sir?"

"He means he doesn't want to try _The Dancing Bear_'s famous arctic fox stew." Mileta said. "Just bring us something normal, would you?"

"Like roast boar?" the waiter asked.

"Exactly." Harry nodded. "Do you have some desserts as well?"

"Of course we do, sir. From ice-creams to chocolate mousses… anything!"

"Then, would you," he beckoned the waiter closer and whispered something into his ears.

"Certainly, sir." the waiter beamed at him. "Anything to drink?"

"Oh, yeah, do you have champagne? But French, not Russian!"

"I'll see what I can do." the waiter smiled and left.

"What did you tell him?" Mileta wondered.

"You'll find out soon." he replied with a wink.

"All right, then keep your secret." she seemed to be hurt a bit. "At least tell me about that funny memory you were smiling at."

"Well, it was about my godfather, Sirius Black."

"Oh, is he your godfather?" she asked, surprised. "The convicted murderer?"

"Yeah, he's my godfather, and no, he isn't a murderer." Harry shook his head. "He was wrongfully accused."

"I see. So, what was that funny memory?"

"Well, Sirius told me once about a girlfriend he used to have ages ago. But it's not that interesting it you don't know him… and that woman."

"Are you and Sirius good friends? Or is he a father-substitute for you?"

"Father-substitute?" Harry frowned. "No, I don't think so. But he's a great friend. He's the one who listens to everything I say. My only friend who always understood me."

"I thought you had another guy for a best friend. Someone called…sorry, I forgot his name. Viktor told me about your friendship. About you, Hermione and that boy."

"Ron. That's his name."

"Oh, yeah, Ron!" Mileta nodded. "Isn't _he _your best friend?"

"Actually yes, he is. Still he isn't the one whom I could always count on. It is Sirius."

"I bet that godfather of yours is a cool guy. If you can discuss anything with him… even sex?"

"Yeah, even that." Harry nodded, grinning. "Actually he was the one who told me things back in my sixth year."

"Told you things?" she giggled. "What things?"

"Things that Snape tried to explain later, too, but didn't really manage." he chuckled.

"Snape? Who's that?"

"My Potions teacher. For half a year he also taught Defense Against the Dark Arts, but I wasn't at school at that time. When I went back to school to finish my studies, headmaster Dumbledore decided to make some reforms and included a new subject into our curriculum. The Ministry wasn't too taken with it when they got to know, but…" his voice trailed off, his mind started reeling backwards until February of that year… 

All seventh year Gryffindor and Slytherin students were gathered in the dungeons, not too eagerly awaiting their Potions master.

Ginny stifled a yawn and nestled herself into the crook of Harry's arm. She had been like that for months now – always tired. Harry put it down to the pregnancy.

As she closed her eyes, her head bent on his shoulder, Harry looked over her head at Malfoy. 

Draco suddenly looked another way – Harry was sure that he had been surreptitiously watching Ginny. Harry felt a strange cramp in his chest, as though someone had clutched at his heart, trying to crumple it. *What are you thinking, silly?* he chided himself. *Malfoy has a crush on your wife, so what? Ginny loves you and wouldn't even notice Malfoy if he had been dancing on professor Snape's desk, wearing only a cauldron as a hat. But still… why do I feel so bad about it?* he wondered.

Suddenly the door burst open and a rather miffed professor Snape raced in.

"Girls, gather your things and walk up to the Transfiguration classroom!" he bellowed.

"What?" Ginny opened her eyes. "Why do we have to leave?"

"No idea." Harry shrugged.

"Hurry up, will you? Professor McGonagall is waiting for you!"

"I'm curious what this is all about." Ginny picked up her schoolbag and headed for the door along with the other girls.

"Me, too." Colin Creevey said, taking Ginny's place on Harry's side. "What do you reckon, Harry? What's going on? Boys and girls have never been separated at classes yet."

"Dunno." Harry shook his head.

As the door shut behind the last girl, Severus Snape turned to them with a nasty expression on his yellowish face.

"You might be wondering what this is about. Well, I need to inform you that the headmaster suddenly decided to include a new subject into our curriculum. This Potions class will be replaced by…"

"What, professor?" Draco asked.

"Sex education." Snape replied coldly.

"WHAT???" the class roared.

"Did you hear that?" Colin's eyes widened. "Is professor Dumbledore mad? Making us study something like that? And choosing _Snape _to teach it?"

Harry shrugged, madly fighting with his facial muscles that wanted to spread a wide grin all over his face. He looked at the floor, knowing that he wouldn't be able to remain indifferent if he cast another glance at Snape.

"Now you might be wondering why the headmaster decided to make you study such a… um, weird subject, and why he hadn't decided so earlier." the professor spoke up. "Well, I think I know his reasons… he introduced this new subject to impede certain things – in lower years this type of education might come at the right time, while in higher years - like yours - it might be already late. " now he glared meaningfully at Harry, who didn't see the professor's stare, since he was still examining the floor.

Colin nudged him and he looked up. Now all the class was looking at him. "What?" he asked.

Draco Malfoy sneered maliciously at him. Someone at the other end of the class giggled.

Snape, after leaving the students a minute to 'glare' at Harry, spoke up: "As you all know – or not –" he looked at Harry again, "sexuality is something to be treated with great caution. Jumping into sexual relations without the adequate knowledge on protection may lead to rather unpleasant consequences." a couple of muffled laughs could be heard again. "Therefore you need to be prepared before you face a situation like this... Some of you might have already faced such a situation, but even if you have, _most of you_ might have known how to protect yourselves against certain negative…" Harry decided to continue gazing at the floor, after all twenty boys looked at him again, knowing what Snape meant my 'most of you'. It meant there were exceptions, and in this case it was Harry.

"So, first I will talk about the contraceptive methods, then, if there's time left, I'll get down to the actual physical part."

"I just hope we won't have to take an exam in this subject." Colin whispered into Harry's ear, who couldn't stifle a chuckle.

"What do you find so funny about my speech, Potter?" Snape asked. "Just to inform you," his voice rose in pitch, "this lesson has been included into the curriculum because of your sorry case, Potter. We are trying to see to it that no other students find themselves in a situation like you did last year… and I heard _this year_, as well." he added with a disgusted expression.

"I'm sorry, professor. I promise to shut up and listen." Harry replied.

"That's better." Snape nodded. "And now, to the methods of protection… first of all there is a spell, called _Anti-conceptus Charm_. Its incantation is _Impedio graviditas_! What are you waiting for? Write it down! You might not know when you need it!"

Every student started to scribble, with the exception of Harry.

"Why don't you write it down, Harry?" Colin whispered.

"'Cause I know that one. Tried it… it didn't work." Harry whispered back.

"Famous Harry Potter thinks he knows these things better than anyone else?" Snape's harsh voice made Harry shudder and look up. "Would you be so kind and tell me why you don't bother to pay attention at my class, Potter?"

"I _was_ paying attention, professor." Harry sighed. "I just didn't feel necessary to write down the incantation."

"And why not, if I may ask?"

"Because I know that one, professor."

"Know it?" Severus raised an eyebrow. "And did you know it last year, too? And four months ago?" he placed the emphasis on _four months ago_.

"Yes, professor, I _did_ know it four months ago." Harry replied.

"And why not use it, then?" Draco interjected.

"None of your business, Malfoy!" Harry retorted.

"You are gravely mistaken, Mr. Potter." Snape said calmly. "It is everyone's business in this class. The students are here to learn… from me, and from all possible sources of information, which includes you as well."

"Brilliant." Harry murmured. "So we are here to air all my dirty laundry… how flattering that everyone's so interested. Shall I go into details, professor? Where should I start? With my first time in the prefect's bathroom?"

Snape shrugged. "However entertaining it might be for some of your classmates, I fear we don't have time for that. I simply wanted to know how you could impregnate Ms. Weasley, er, Mrs. Potter, if you knew that incantation." he said _Mrs. Potter_ with a hint of sarcasm. 

"I don't know, professor. We've been using it… every time." he flushed a bit, and some boys started chuckling again. "I have no idea why, but the spell didn't work."

"Most curious, Mr. Potter." Snape said. "Well, I'm here to tell you about more than one method of birth control. Spells might not be powerful enough, so there are always the good old..."

"Condoms." Colin cut in.

"What, Mr. Creevey?" Snape raised an eyebrow, clearly annoyed by being interrupted.

"Condoms… you know, Muggle protection." Colin replied with a wavering voice, seeing the professor's baleful expression. "And there are those pills as well, and…"

"Muggle protection is by far not as safe as the wizard methods, trust me." Snape replied. "It is proved that the _Anti-Conceptus Charm_ gives 100% protection, if it's implemented right after the sexual act. But for those, who find this not enough, there are still the good old potions."

"Somehow I had a feeling that he'd come to his damned potions at the end." Colin whispered to Harry.

"There is a potion called _Keinkind_… a German one. I'm going to write the ingredients on the blackboard." the professor turned away from the class, taking a chalk and starting to write the word 'fluxweed' on the board.

The students copied the other ingredients: shredded boomslang, eel-eyes and bat-blood. After a while professor Snape turned around to see that Harry Potter wasn't writing like the others.

"Do you know this one, too, Potter?" he asked harshly. Harry nodded. "Then name me the last ingredient that I haven't put on the board yet."

"A hair of a leprechaun's beard." Harry replied with a sigh. 

Snape's face revealed surprise. "Most impressing. You might pass your potions N.E.W.T. after all, Potter."

Harry cast a side-glance at Draco, who looked rather displeased by the professor's statement.

"Any chance that you have also used this potion, Potter?" Snape asked.

"Yes, I have, professor. We wanted to make sure that Ginny wouldn't get pregnant again before graduating, so besides the _Anti-Conceptus Charm_ she also drank the _Keinkind _Potion."

"She drank it? And still became pregnant? Impossible!" Severus looked surprised.

"Not impossible." Harry shrugged. "Even potions can prove to be wrong."

"An interesting point, Potter. If you manage to prove it in an essay why the charm and your potion didn't work – if they were made properly, that is – then you won't need to take your potions N.E.W.T."

"What?" Draco Malfoy hissed, scandalised.

Harry shot a triumphant look at him and turned back to Snape. He might begin to like Severus, after all. 

"And now that we have talked about the theoretical part, let's move on to… other parts." the students, knowing what was coming, started laughing madly. Snape cleared his throat. "So… sex… something that some of you might have already done, so this part of the lesson mainly concerns those, who haven't." he pulled out a large parchment from his drawer and pinned it onto the blackboard. "So, the male and female genitalia…"

Harry yawned and looked out of the window. A little red bird was sitting on a tree-branch, singing. It was the first bird he had seen for months, besides the owls and crows that were frequently seen at Hogwarts in winter. The bird's colour reminded him of his pretty little wife, who was up in McGonagall's class, surely just as bored as he was. The thought of Minerva explaining sex to students (especially to students in lower years) made Harry grin. *I'm going to ask Ginny to tell me every funny details of McGonagall's class.* he decided, bending his head onto his arms.

"…and that is what you need to heed when you… um, Mr. Potter?" Snape raised his voice.

Colin nudged Harry, but he didn't budge.

"POTTER!" Snape bellowed, making Harry stir and look up.

"What? Sorry, professor." he squinted at him drowsily. 

"Ten points from Gryffindor for sleeping in my class, Potter." Snape said.

"Oh, all right." Harry stood up, gathering his belongings. 

"Where are you going, Potter?" Severus furrowed his brow.

"To fetch Ginny from professor McGonagall's class. I think it's no use for us sitting in classes like this. We are past the theories long ago. Practice is much more fun." and with that he left the classroom. Before he closed the door behind himself, he heard Snape saying: "Another twenty points from Gryffindor for your cheek, Potter!"

As it turned out, Ginny's class wasn't as terrible, because it wasn't held by Minerva, but Hermione. However, after the theoretical class, Ginny also preferred some practice, to Harry's greatest delight. 

And that was the last time they made love…

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Harry heaved a deep sigh. Eight months… eight long months without any intimacy. He loved his wife and respected her wish to _wait a bit_, but it was getting too much for him. He seriously hoped that Ginny would be okay by Christmas… or was she already okay? Harry couldn't wait for Sirius' reply to his letter.

"Hey, where are you?" a voice shook his out of his reveries. "You seem to be so far away."

"Huh? Oh, sorry, Mileta. I was thinking."

"About what?" she smiled. 

"Well, just… look, our dinner's coming!" the waiter placed two plates of roast boar on their table, and two glasses of champagne as well.

"Let's drink to you, Mileta." Harry raised his glass. 

After having eaten and drunk, Mileta dragged Harry to the dance-floor, determined to teach him the steps of a Bulgarian folk dance. Harry had never been a good dancer, so he soon convinced her to sit back down to their table. Mileta followed him, pouting. "I feel like dancing… I could dance all night, Harry."

"Then dance." he shrugged. "There are so many handsome guys here and most of them are better dancers than me."

Mileta didn't reply, just sulked. 

"Hey, cheer up and look what the waiter's bringing you!" Harry said.

The waiter approached them, holding a small tart with seventeen candles.

"Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday Mileta, happy birthday to you!" Harry sang as the waiter placed the chocolate tart on their table.

"Oh, Harry…" he eyes filled with joyous tears. "Thank you!" she grabbed the front of his robes, and pulled him to her, catching his lips with hers.

Before Harry could pull free, a voice came roaring through the pub: "HARRY POTTER! WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE WITH MY SISTER???"

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A/N2: Latin explanation: impedio graviditas = to prevent pregnancy.


	13. Hallucinations

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A/N: I'm so happy! Today I managed to get tickets for SW EP2: Attack of the clones, for the very first day of the showing, 16 May!

Thank you for the reviews!!! I'm so happy that you liked last chapter! :)))

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Kit Cloudkicker: yeah, that's really the safest method! (but Snape trusts his potions too much.) Oh, just realised something: does your nickname come from Captain Balu? (I don't exactly remember the names from there, but one of the main characters was called Kit, wasn't he?)

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Mikey: I've seen the movie 8 times: 4 times in Hungarian, 4 times in English – and it was much better in English (while the books were better in Hungarian). The voices of the characters in Hungarian weren't well chosen. Snape, for example, sounded downright 'nice'.

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Tessa: Ron won't have a big role, but you'll see enough of him, I promise.

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Gwen Fifortry: you were reading it in class? Which class, may I ask? Was it a computer class and did your teacher let you surf on the net? I'm really curious.

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zzxm: thanks for being so faithful.

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jennyKT: you're absolutely right! I knew that there was an explanation for the use of floo at Hogwarts, I just couldn't remember what it was. Thanks.

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Mage: yes, Krum's going to kill Harry and the story ends right in this chapter. (Don't believe a word I'm saying! :))

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STARGIRL: why did you think I got miffed? I do have self-criticism. Did I really get that many negative reviews? Strange… I counted only 5-6. 

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X_Tow_Naga: no, Harry hasn't written that essay – yet. Why couldn't Harry always count on Ron? Remember book four? Remember what he was like after Harry's name got out of the goblet of fire? Well, that's why Harry couldn't always count on Ron. Why did they separate the boys and the girls? Hm… maybe you had sex ed together, but I had it in this separated way (though it wasn't funny at all, it was downright boring :( Dumbledore chose Snape to teach sex ed, because there was no other teacher I could think of to teach something like this. For example, should Flitwick have taught it? Nay. Lupin? No way, you'll get to know why in chapter 18. Why did Herm teach in McGonagall's class? Well, the girls were told to go up to McGonagall's class, where – I presume – Minerva told them that she had just run into Hermione and asked her to do it instead of her. And Minerva probably didn't want to send the girls into another classroom. This is really not important, IMHO. Why does Harry call all the teachers by their first names in his thoughts? Strange, I would never have realised that he was doing so, had you not told me that. It's maybe because me and my best friends always call our teachers by their first names behind their backs – and we have invented lots of nasty nicknames for them as well – so for me it's quite natural to call them by their first names :) Why did Harry leave the class? I guess he simply had enough. Haven't you seen a student run out of class yet? I have. The story is at the end of November now, but Christmas will come soon - in chapter 16-17. Oh, you seem to know Mileta just as well as I know her! Great! Um, why did Harry let her kiss him? Well, she yanked him to herself too quickly for him to realise what was happening. You can see such things in lots of movies. Thank you for saying that my story lines and characterisations are okay – it meant a lot to me.

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BlueIce: angel? Thanks :)

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apple-pie: Ron and Gin getting to know about the kiss… hm… you'll see ;-)

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Arif: longest review to this fic so far, thanks! Uh, may I ask something? Are you a boy or a girl? No, Harry has no magical semen, LOL, I laughed so hard when I read your review… no, the reason why Harry is so 'gifted in conception' is something else. You'll get to know it at the end of the story. Two other people have told me not to use 'either' so much, so I'll try. I'm going to give my friend my HP with Mirror Erised pic to scan it, and in a couple of days I'll be able to send it to you. Yes, quite a many people have asked me to be my beta, but I don't want to send my fic to anyone before I start uploading, I trust only my mother. (Please don't take this as an insult, I've told the same to everyone who have volunteered so far, and I'm really grateful that you'd correct my spelling, however I'd rather post the fic with bad spelling, knowing that no one knows what happens, besides me and mum.) Well, DragonBallz was shown in the Hungarian TV about a year ago – and there was quite an upheaval, parents wanted to ban the series because it was so full of aggression… however the Hungarian TV started to show Pokemon as well, and that's also aggressive, but people don't care anymore. I didn't see either of them, neither did any of my friends. I haven't travelled a lot – I have only been three times in Austria and once in France. Feel free to ask anything, but I'm not sure I'll answer everything :))

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teacherchez: I haven't read Pride and prejudice, I only saw a TV series of it and found it terribly boring. I don't like Jane Austen (it was she who wrote it, right?) Haha, you had a funny dream! I also did last week: I was in Peru with a couple of friends AND Harry and Sirius (the latter with a camera, and he was clicking it all along like Colin). Harry was looking for a lost snitch, and we saw a blue phoenix at a tree that burst into flames right before our eyes. We also saw a dead acromantula (you know, a big spider like Aragog), then I saw a blue Hungarian bus on a hill - in Peru! Quite a silly dream, huh? No, Gin's tiredness wasn't an indication that Dan would be a squib, pregnant women feel tired quite often. Albus teaching sex ed? LOL, he's way too old for that (or maybe not, given that he's together will Arabella:)) Of course you'll get to know why the contraceptives failed – at the end of the story, no sooner! *evil grin* 

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LilGinny: no, Dan being a squib has nothing to do with David being a wizard… or maybe a little bit, but not that way – you'll see in chap 17. 

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Wood's secret lover: of course you'll get to know why the potion and the spell didn't work. It IS important.

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jeanine23DR: I didn't read a fic like that, which one is that, I'd like to read it! WWF? You mean World Wildlife Fund, or what?

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blaubaerin: so Milka is German? Congrats to the Germans on making the best chocolate in the world! Where did I get the ring idea? No idea at all. I have only read Lord of The Rings, but there the rings weren't changing their colours. I really don't know.

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Maddy: Harry managed to pass the Potions N.E.W.T., though with a bad mark. You know Snape… and Harry didn't manage to write the essay, because he didn't know why the Potion and the spell didn't work, so he wasn't exempted from the exam. In Hungary at least 7-8 smurf pop CDs have been released, and I have a couple of them, they're really funny!

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Crazycutee831: no, Mileta's not going to make him drunk.

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veronik: it might have happened that I wrote 'my' instead of 'by'. I'm a quick and very good typist, but sometimes I don't notice stuff like this, especially when my spelling correction programme doesn't tell that it's wrong (and how could it? 'my' is also an English word, so the programme doesn't notice that it's out of place there.) Ah, so you like long chaps? Well, chap 14 will be very long.

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Moony Lover: did you also write sex ed? Tell me exactly which chapter it is, and I'll read that chap, okay? I'm really curious! :)) No, Draco won't kidnap Ginny. But he'll want to get her, of course. Hm… you're close, but not totally. There will be much bigger cliffies later.

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PUNKsarcasm, Padme Skywalker, Lady Lupin and _thebiggesthpfan_: thank you – to you and to everyone else. You guys have given me my self-confidence back.

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Waldomier: The Greatest Scandal ended in December 1998, and this story started in June 1999.

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Bienfoy: I've turned you into a H/G shipper? Great, I have turned lots of people into H/G shippers, LOL:) Dumbledore chose Snape to teach sex ed because there was no other teacher I could think of to teach something like this. For example, should Flitwick have taught it? Nay. Lupin? No way, you'll get to know why in chapter 18. And no, Harry haven't written that essay – yet.

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I AM THE BEST AUTHOR: your words are full of hate, but I have heard a very clever saying recently: "There will always be people who hate you, but the only way they can win is if you hate them back." So I don't hate you – on the contrary: I feel sorry for you. I believe you wanted to provoke me to send you to hell, but I won't – on the contrary. I say: write me as many flames as you please, if that is what makes you happy. I will not answer with rudeness to your rudeness.

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LupinsLover: I haven't tasted Russian champagne yet, I only heard that there was a pink coloured Russian champagne and I thought it had to be… not too good. Sorry, I didn't want to insult the Russians! No, the fact that Gin's a Weasley isn't the reason why she always gets pregnant. I guess Molly really wanted to have lots of kids (or they kept trying until they managed to have a daughter:)), but in Ginny's case it's different: she did use contraceptives, but they didn't work. Why? You'll get to know later. 

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Twink: I took Rasputin and Dimitriy from Anastasia, of course :) But as you know, Rasputin was a real person. My Latin is going to be terrible, sorry.

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xenocide: happy birthday (although it was two days ago!:)) 

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Derkaun Zarion: no, it's not fate that makes them have so many kids. It will be revealed later. As I have told Twink, my Latin will be terrible – all I know is 'in vino veritas' and 'alea yachta est'.

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One-Winged Butterfly: no, the failing contraceptives have nothing to do with Dan being a squib. You asked why Malfoy was in seventh year with H and G. Yes, Harry had to go back – and in the last chap of TGSoHH I mentioned that Dumbledore let Malfoy return to the school and finish his studies (Ron said he didn't approve of the idea.)

Oh, my, I was blabbering again, sorry!

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Chapter 13

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Hallucinations

The voice of her brother made Mileta jump and release Harry, who immediately looked in the direction of the fireplace where he saw two newcomers: Viktor Krum and Hermione – the former with an extremely angry expression, the latter with her mouth agape.

He stood up as they approached them.

"Hullo, Viktor, Herm."

"What were you doing with my sister???" Krum repeated his question, furrowing his extraordinarily bushy eyebrows. His fists were also clenched.

"Me? Nothing." Harry shrugged. 

"YOU KISSED HER! I SAW IT!" Viktor bellowed, seizing Harry's collar.

"You are mistaken. _She _kissed _me_, not the other way around."

"And you want me to believe it?" Viktor thrust Harry with such a force that he fell onto the table, making it keel over, sending the birthday-cake onto the floor. "Don't lie to me you bastard!" by that time the landlady started screaming that they were ruining her pub.

"Viktor!" Hermione demanded. "Let him explain and let him go!"

"All right. Let's go out." Krum pointed at the door. It was snowing out there, but it didn't seem to bother the protective brother.

Harry nodded and they headed for the door. Everyone in the pub rushed to the windows to have a good view.

Mileta stepped to Hermione, wringing her hands. "Oh my… this is terrible! Viktor's going to kill Harry!"

"I hope not." Hermione whispered.

"So!" Krum shouted.

"What?" Harry asked.

"This!" Viktor replied, punching him in the face. Harry's nose started to bleed.

"That's it! Break his nose!" someone from the pub yelped.

"Hey! I didn't do anything!" Harry shouted, ducking, this time managing to avoid a slap.

"I saw what I saw!" Krum retorted, his fist whooshing in the direction of Harry's cheek, but got stopped by Harry's hand in mid-air.

"Your eyes deceived you! Told you that _she_ kissed me!" young Potter shouted, jumping aside from another blow. "Anyway, it was a totally innocent kiss! She only kissed me because she was so happy!"

"Happy?" Viktor growled. "Happy because you were wooing her?"

"What? I wouldn't start wooing her if she was the last woman on Earth!"

Mileta gasped and clutched at her chest.

"What? How dare you decry my sister like that? Isn't she good enough for you?" Krum bellowed, this time managing to give Harry such a hit that he stumbled backwards and fell into the snow. His glasses broke, and Viktor was massaging his sore hand.

"No! I meant I wasn't in love with your sister! I have a wife, you know, and love her above all!"

"Then what were you doing here with Mileta? Don't try and tell me it wasn't a date!"

"It _wasn't _a date." Harry replied. "It was a birthday-party that _you_ forgot to give her." he said with detestation.

"A birthday party?" Viktor gaped. "But her birthday isn't until May!"

Now it was Harry's turn to gape. "WHAT?"

"Her birthday is 12th May!" Krum repeated.

"But… but she said today was her birthday and everyone forgot about it… you too… she was desperate and sobbed her heart out because everyone forgot it. I only wanted to cheer her up. Honestly."

Krum's eyes narrowed as he scrutinised Harry's face, then he squinted at his sister, who was quivering in the doorframe. Suddenly he started to laugh.

Harry looked bewildered at Hermione, mouthing: _do you understand this?_ She shook her head.

"I'm… I'm sorry, pal." Viktor stepped to Harry, pulling him up from the snow. 

"What?" Harry wiped snow off his robes and re-adjusted his broken glasses.

"You've been had! This insufferable little liar here," he pointed at Mileta, "managed to deceive you. And you're not the first to fall victim to her tricks."

"Glad to hear." Harry made a wry face, casting a side-glance at Ms. Krum, who immediately diverted her eyes, blushing madly.

"But still, Harry, what was that kiss I happened to see?"

"Ask her." Harry looked at Mileta.

"So, sis?" Krum asked, his voice peremptory.

Mileta's eyes filled with tears (Harry was sure they were fake tears again), and she ran back into the inn.

"Viktor…" Harry looked at Hermione, who was still standing in the doorframe, "if we are already by accusations, what are you doing here with my sister-in-law? I only wanted to console your sister, but Hermione doesn't look like someone who needs consoling!"

* * * * *

By the time they arrived back at the inn, Mileta was nowhere to be seen. She must have fled back to the castle through the floo-network. 

"So? Is it a date?" Harry asked again.

"Don't be silly, Harry." Hermione replied. "And you'd better change into something dry or you'll catch a cold."

"All right. I'm leaving." he pulled out his wallet and paid the waiter. "Sorry for the mess."

"Never mind, sir. Things like this happen once in a while." the waiter smiled, counting his tip.

Harry stepped to the fireplace to travel back to Durmstrang, but with a sudden thought he doubled back. "You'd better knock some manners into your sister. Teach her to tell the truth…" with that he turned back to the flames and said: "Durmstrang!"

* * * * *

He stumbled out of the fireplace of Mileta's room. Seeing the girl sobbing on the sofa, he sighed. *Damn, there are at least a hundred fireplaces in the castle, and I had to come through this one!*

The girl looked up as she heard his steps.

"Harry!" she hopped up and backed to the wall, trembling with fear.

"I'm not going to hurt you." Harry said and headed for the door. After having opened it, he turned back to her: "But you know, Mileta… it's no wonder that you don't have friends."

With that he walked out, oblivious to the fact that this last sentence hurt her more than a hard slap in the face.

* * * * *

"I'm truly ashamed of my sister's behaviour." Viktor growled, sitting down next to Hermione. "Of course I shouldn't be surprised, I know her, after all, but… Harry surely thinks she's an immoral little witch."

"Almost." Hermione said calmly. "Except for the last word. Harry surely would say it with 'b' as the first letter."

Krum looked at her and a small smile appeared on his face. "You'd never say that word, right, Herm-own-ninny?"

Hermione shrugged and sipped a bit of wine. "Don't worry Viktor. Harry isn't the unforgiving type. He isn't mad at _you_, but your sister. Anyway, he's used to be beaten up by mad brothers being protective over their little sisters."

"What do you mean?" Viktor looked highly interested.

"I meant Ron." Hermione had to smile at the memory. "You can't imagine his expression when he got to know that Harry got his little sister pregnant."

"What? They weren't married, then?" Viktor put down his glass to be able to pay better attention.

"No, how could they have been? Harry was in his seventh year, Ginny was only sixteen. Ron was murderous, of course."

"I can imagine that." Viktor nodded, amused. "Truth be told I never thought that the immaculate Mr. Potter could ever…"

"Neither did I and Ron." Hermione shrugged.

"You and Ron…" Krum's voice trailed off. "How long have you been in love with each other?"

"Since our fourth year at Hogwarts, I guess. I remember how jealous he was when I went to the Yule ball with you." she chuckled.

Viktor furrowed his brow. "At that time I thought you loved Harry."

"No. I never loved him that way. Ron is my one and only love. I can't wait to go back to him for Christmas!" she sighed with a dreamy expression, then suddenly regretted saying that, noticing the pain spreading on Krum's face.

"Anyway, really don't worry about Harry. He isn't vindictive." Hermione tried to direct the conversation to something else. "I don't think that he'll give your sister fewer points than she deserves just because of this incident. Harry is very righteous."

* * * * *

Next morning Harry was awoken by an owl tapping at the window-pane. Although he felt a bit sick, he got out of his bed, put on a dressing-gown and walked up to the window. He saw immediately, that the owl was carrying Sirius' reply. *He really answered me quick, I only wrote him yesterday.* he tapped the owl's head gratefully, thanking it for the quick delivery.

He unfolded the letter.

__

Dear Harry,

I understand how much you wish to be with your wife, but I suggest you wait until Christmas. No more than five weeks! By then I'm sure she'll be dying to see you, too. (Not that she isn't dying to see you now, but you know, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and the longer time you are apart, the happier the reunion will be – if you get what I mean ;-)

So be patient, and remember, everything comes to him who waits.

Sirius

"Wait, always wait!" Harry sighed and dropped the letter. He wasn't feeling well. He put this down to the last evening's events and to the letter he just received. He felt dizzy and weak.

He was just about to slip back under the covers when another owl with another letter arrived.

He unfolded the letter and read:

__

Dear Harry,

Please, forgive me, I didn't want to get you into such an embarrassing situation. I know I'm a despicable little bitch for deceiving you with tears, but it felt so good to be consoled by you. I would like to thank you for last night – it was the most wonderful night of my life (until my brother caught us).

Love,

Mileta

"You're right, Mileta. You're really a despicable little bitch." Harry murmured, crumpling the letter and stuffing it into the pocket of his dressing gown.

He sat down on his bed, feeling not strong enough to stand. "What's happening to me?" he moaned, leaning onto the covers as a mad fit of coughing came over him. *I haven't felt this bad when Lockhart removed my bones… it's almost as bad as being near a dementor… but dementors never made me cough…* he didn't know how long he was lying there and barely heard when someone knocked on the door.

It was Hermione, who – in lack of response – let herself in.

"Harry, why haven't you come down for breakfast?" she walked up to him. "Are you all right? You look so pale."

"No, I'm not all right." he croaked, sitting up, shivering.

Hermione reached out to feel his forehead. "Holy heavens, Harry! You are burning up! Come on, get back under the covers, I'll go and get the school-nurse or doctor… or whoever they have."

She tucked him in with an extremely worried expression. "Thanks." he said with chattering teeth.

Soon the school nurse appeared with the anxious Hermione, who - for the duration of the examination - was sent out.

"What is the matter, Hermione?" McGonagall asked, as she saw her pacing before Harry's room.

"I don't exactly know, Minerva, but I think Harry's got a very bad cold. The nurse is examining him right now."

"It's no wonder. This castle is as cold as a fridge." McGonagall said.

Hermione nodded, though she didn't really think that Harry caught a cold just because the castle was cold. She was convinced that it happened the previous night when Harry's clothes got soaked in the snow. It was at least minus twenty Celsius degrees out there.

Finally the nurse exited Harry's room with a sullen expression.

"How's he?" Hermione and Minerva asked in unison.

"Not well. Pneumonia." the nurse replied.

"But he'll get well, won't he?"

"I cannot tell it for sure. Pneumonia is dangerous."

"But with some pepper-up potion you surely…" Hermione started.

"Pepper-up potion is good for a simple cold, but ineffective against pneumonia." the nurse said. "I think all we can do is wait. The crises will come in nine days. If he survives the ninth day, he'll be okay."

"Then… penicillin?" Hermione asked. "It cures pneumonia."

"Penicillin? Never heard of it." the nurse shook her head. 

"Never? But it's the commonly-used medicine for pneumonia!" Hermione reasoned. "You know it, don't, you, Minerva?"

"I think I have heard of it, but it's a Muggle medicine. Not available here."

"But it's surely available in St. Petersburg, isn't it?" Hermione asked.

"It must be." McGonagall nodded.

"Then I'll go and get some for Harry." Hermione said resolute and marched away.

* * * * *

Professor Tatyana Fiodrovna heard a knock on her office door and looked up to see Dennis Creevey standing before her.

"I never said _come in_." she perceived coldly, putting down her book. "But if you are already here, go on and tell me what you want."

"I wanted to thank you, professor. For the help. Now I know what the plant is we need to find and I also know where it is to be found, so I can prepare."

"Good." she opened her book again, indicating that she didn't want him to bother her any longer.

"Professor…"

"Yes?" she sounded a bit irritable.

"May I ask why you helped me?"

"Because I believe in fair play, Creevey."

"Fair play?" Dennis raised an eyebrow. Helping a student like this wasn't his idea of fair play.

"Exactly." Fiodrovna put down her book, sighing. "I was sure that Viktor Krum had told his sister about the first task. And for the French champion… you know professor Zvezda?"

Dennis shook his head no. 

"She is the astronomy witch, the one who actually made up the first task. Yes, it was her idea. And you know, she is young and fallible… fell in love with that Guillaume Pierre Whoever. I'm positive she told him about the first task. After that you were the only one who didn't know. I thought you deserved to know. That's all."

"If I'm not being too indiscreet, how did you know about the task? Wasn't it supposed to be a secret?" Dennis kept inquiring.

"Professor Zvezda is a friend of mine. It wasn't hard to make her tell me. Actually she let it slip once, and as you know, once the toothpaste is out of the tube, it's hard to get it back in."

"Aha…" Dennis grinned. "Quite chatty, that professor Zvezda, huh?"

"Afraid so." she nodded. "People of this kind are very easily controlled…"

"By _Imperius_, you mean?" he blinked.

"_Imperius_?" she laughed shrilly. "You don't even need to use such a curse when you are facing someone with so little will-power. Pathetic, I tell you."

"Well, not everyone can be like Harry, after all." Dennis nodded.

"Like Mr. Potter? What do you mean?"

"I mean you cannot control him by _Imperius_. Not at all. He can fight it down." said Dennis proudly. "Cool guy, Harry."

"I don't doubt it. Quite handsome as well." Tatyana replied. "Oh well, I've got to prepare for my next lesson, so if you would only leave me alone, Mr. Creevey…"

"Well, of course, and thank you, professor." Dennis said. "I…"

"Shh!" Tatyana suddenly raised a finger to her mouth, indicating for Dennis to shut up. There were voices coming from outside the office:

__

"What happened Herm-own-ninny?"

"Harry's extremely ill, Viktor!" a tremulous voice replied.

__

"Ill?"

"Pneumonia… I guess he caught it yesterday night out in the snow… and if I can't get a certain Muggle medicine, he might die!"

"Oh, shit, it'd be my fault!"

"No, it isn't Viktor, you just wanted to defend your sister, that was natural, but… help me, Viktor! You know the Muggle part of St. Petersburg but I don't. All I know is Rasputin's fur-coat shop, but I need an apothecary now…"

"I guess I know one. Come. We won't let Harry die."

The voices faded as the speakers moved away.

Inside the office, Dennis gulped with a face as white as a sheet. "Harry… he won't die, will he, professor?"

"I hope not." the potions teacher replied ever so coolly. "A good friend of yours, isn't he?"

"Very good, professor. He… he cannot die! Not after having escaped death so many times!"

"So many times?" Tatyana looked intrigued. "I know only about his little incident with You-Know-Who when he was a baby. Is there anything else?"

"'Course there is!" Dennis nodded enthusiastically. "He escaped You-Know-Who in fourth year as well, and then two years ago… though last time it was Ginny who did it, I mean she died for him, then Harry brought her back…"

"Now wait a minute!" professor Fiodrovna cut in. "What do you mean by saying that _he brought her back?"_

"Harry descended into the netherworld and brought Ginny back with some mysterious torch, I don't know more." Dennis shrugged.

"Descended… into the… netherworld… and came back alive…" Tatyana muttered, mystified.

"Are you all right, professor?" Dennis asked, seeing her gone rigid, staring at the door like someone petrified.

She shuddered and looked at him. "Of course I'm all right, Mr. Creevey."

"All right, then. Thanks once more for the help." he said and walked out of the office.

*I'm more than all right, you dupe.* she smiled. *You told me the best news ever.*

* * * * *

It was already sundown when Aberforth found McGonagall nervously pacing up and down before Harry's room.

"What happened, Ms McGonagall?" he asked.

"Oh, so terrible, Aberforth!" she flung herself on him without noticing that she had called him by his given name. He instinctively gathered her into a firm embrace, patting her back. 

"What, dear Minerva?"

"Harry Potter… is very ill." she lifted her eyes to meet his. Aberforth saw that she had been crying.

"What do you mean by that? What happened to him?"

"Pneumonia, Aberforth. He's got such high fever! I've been helping the nurse, trying to make it go down with cooling charms and wet pack on his forehead, but nothing was effective…"

"Pneumonia… that is really… bad." Aberforth replied. "Nasty Muggle ailment… Though I knew a wizard who managed to survive it."

"Just one?" she shrieked.

"Shh! It's okay, Harry seems to be a tough guy, he'll survive."

"I hope that Hermione and Mr. Krum manage to get that Muggle medicine called Painycilin for him…" she sniffed.

"Penicillin, you mean." the man corrected her.

"Whatever." she replied, searching her pockets for a hanky. 

"Here." Aberforth handed her one.

"Thanks." she sniffed. "I couldn't stand if he died… so young, with such beautiful prospects… father of two… what if he dies?"

"He won't." Dumbledore replied, hugging her again. She didn't push him away – somehow she felt better in his arms.

"Minerva!" Hermione came running in their direction. McGonagall jumped back from Dumbledore as though she had been burnt. "Minerva, I've got the medicine!"

"Oh, wonderful!" McGonagall clapped her hands. "Thanks heaven you managed to get some!"

The two women entered the room where the nurse was just trying a new cooling charm on Harry. 

"May I help with something?" Aberforth called after them.

"No." Minerva said harshly and banged the door shut behind their backs.

"Women." the old man sighed. "In one minute they come and flung themselves on you, in the next one they send you to hell… Who understands them?"

* * * * *

"Hermione…" Harry mumbled between two coughs. "Good to see you."

"Shh!" she said, sitting down next to him. "Don't speak."

"Oh, Hermione… Voldemort was here… in a shower cap... he was having a shower and singing '_I was made for loving you baby'_… it was terrible…totally out of tune…" he said with a suffering expression.

"You were having hallucinations because of the fever." McGonagall said. "You are going to get a new medicine and it'll help you heal. Your fever will go down and you won't have any more hallucinations."

"I hope so." he nodded, perspiration beading on his forehead. "Water… could you…"

"Here." Hermione said, handing him a glass of water. He whispered thanks with misty eyes. His eyes weren't green, they looked rather grey at the moment.

"Ouch! What was that?" he winced.

"An injection, Harry. You'll get better soon." Hermione said. "Just sleep."

Harry was having a nightmare again – this time without Voldemort and shower caps. It was about Ginny… and Draco Malfoy. They were walking on a snow-covered plane when suddenly Malfoy disappeared out of sight. He heard screams, and splashing of water, saw Ginny desperately trying to pull Draco out of somewhere… and then he woke with a start.

"Just a nightmare, Potter… another nightmare…" he whispered to himself, panting. He had been having nightmares about Malfoy and his wife since that ominous night in the Hogwarts infirmary during their seventh year. Since then there had always been a thought nagging at the back of his mind – a feeling that he might lose his wife to Malfoy. "You are being stupid again." he squeezed his eyes shut and leaned back into the pillows. Soon he fell asleep again – or did he? He couldn't tell what was dream and what was reality in his current condition. He saw the door to his room open and a form approach his bed. The form bent over him, then sat down, taking his hand.

"It's okay, Harry." the form had black hair – that was all Harry could tell in the darkness. "You are going to be all right. You have to heal, do you hear me? I need you…" the visitor squeezed his hand. "You are still so hot. Did that Muggle medicine not help? Then I will help." The figure pointed its wand at him and muttered something in an indistinguishable language. It wasn't in Latin like all other incantations. It sounded rather like some Asian language… Hindi, maybe. "You are going to be all right now. I swear." the form bent down and kissed him on the forehead.

"Mileta?" Harry whispered after the door shut behind the visitor's back, but he knew it wasn't Mileta.

****

A/N2: There, you got the Voldemort dream you wanted so much in TGSoHH! Sorry that I didn't go into details, but it would have been way too silly.

You might wonder why Krum didn't curse Harry right away – I only thought that a fist-fight would be better.

I know that normally pneumonia doesn't develop so quickly, but I assumed that after being soaked in minus twenty Celsius degrees, Harry had to get sick quickly – and you know, there was no time to make him slowly get ill, since it would only have made the story be even slower, and no one wants that. Of course nowadays pneumonia is a curable disease (while my great-grandpa died in it), but only with penicillin, and I decided that wizards didn't have that medicine.

I don't know whether wizards have injections, but I thought that it was the easiest way to give Harry his does of penicillin.

Next chapter: the first task (and only one more after that, and Harry'll go back to his family!)

Oh, imagine, the Hungarian HP forum I'm often visiting has started a role playing game. I have chosen a female role that I felt 'close' to myself – you can guess who it is (you seem to like guessing, so go ahead!) In next chap I'll tell you whose role I'll be playing, if you're interested.


	14. Edelweiss, edelweiss

****

A/N: Haha, no one managed to find out who I'd be playing in the RPG! You guessed Hermione, Minerva and Ginny, but… I'm Rita Skeeter! I told you that I felt that role 'close' to myself, because you always told me what an EVIL writer I was! :)))

Many of you were guessing whether the visitor was Tatyana or James, someone even thought of Anck-sun-Amun and Dan Potter. Well, I only tell: it was someone who needs Harry for something, as he/she has told it. 

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linj: I hate the pure thought of D/G, so don't worry.

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Lavendar Brown: David and Davie are the same, the younger Dursley boy. I don't know whether those two names are totally different, but I thought that David could be called Davie as well. Tell me if I'm wrong, I don't really know the English names and I might be using wrong nicknames.

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Maddy: of course I know Ewan McGregor! He's Obi Van!!! And DO consider me a Star Wars fan! I was surprised to read that he would be playing Lupin – I think it's cool.

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teacherchez: Gujerati? Sorry, never heard of that – what kind of language is that? Asian or African or something like that? You asked how this story could start in June 1999. Well, I have already explained this to many people who also didn't understand. So, a bit of maths: in book 2 Nearly Headless Nick had his 500th Deathday party, and it was told that he died in 1492. Thus book 2 happened in 1992, and then Harry was 12. So Harry had to be born in 1980. Now Harry is 19, so this way could the story start in 1999. So simple. I'm really bad in maths, but I've counted this all right, I'm sure.

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Gwen Fifortry: where are you from? I've given my Horntail your greetings! :))

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X_Tow_Naga: why couldn't they specify the fireplace? Well, in TGSoHH Dudley kept coming through wrong fireplaces all along (although he was a muggle), so I decided that it'd be fun for the characters to continue doing so. No special reason for that. Why couldn't magic doctors be acquainted with muggle medicine? Dunno. Maybe Pomfrey was, but this Russian one wasn't. Even normal doctors are like that: one of them says you have a bad cold, the other says you have flu. One of them gives you an antibiotic, the other says not to take any medicine. Even doctors don't know everything about healing (unfortunately.) I have heard about a case when a very stupid doc (who happened to be my school doc in the primary school) examined a child and told the mother that her child had an illness called… (he said some Latin name.) Then the mother asked someone who spoke Latin very well and it turned out that there was NO such illness at all! The doctor made it up! Okay, I'm blabbering, sorry.

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aurora riddle: the word 'shipper' comes from the word 'relation_ship_'. So if you're a H/G shipper, that means that you want to see H and G in a relationship. No, don't believe that Sirius has turned serious! In the Christmas chapters he'll be very far from being serious! :)

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Arif: sorry, can't tell anything about Dan's future (and yes, his sister is one year older than him). How long will YOU live? Ask Trelawney! (and she'll predict you a very short life with lots of Grims! :)) Sorry, I'm not going to answer the villain part, wait it out. You're eighth grader? I fear I'm not too familiar with the American school system but does that mean that you're about 14? 

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Coolio: Ginny died to save Harry, not Lily! Her eye colour has nothing to do with Lily, it turned green because of the Green Flame Torch.

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PepsiAngel: Tatyana has black hair. What is 'schnazzness'?

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jennaration: my birthday was on 19th February. Yours?

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star queen: no, we don't have Vanity Fair here in Hungary, but I do think that Hayden is damn sexy!!!!!! 

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Harrysgirl: sorry, I can't answer your question about 'The One'. How could Sirius' reply get there so quickly? Hm… the owl wore a rocket on his back? ;))))

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Mikey: the Egyptian girl's name is Anck-sun-Amun. Sorry, I don't know when HP5 is coming. Months ago I heard that it might be right this February, but that wasn't true. Then I heard March – not true again. Then I heard July, then September, AND I heard that it might only be released next year! Oh, I hope it's not true!!! I can't wait to read it! J.K. told she was ready with book 5, but I heard that Bloomsbury (the British publisher) had some problems (though I don't know what kind of problems:(( Well, keep hoping!

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Moony Lover: Mileta's not exactly good, but not exactly bad either. You'll see later.

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phoenix6545: you are very sweet that you defended me against the flamer, but I guess I can't post your review anywhere for him to see (I don't think he reads my A/Ns.) 

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VeRyWiLdWiTcH: then you must have been given another antibiotic. 

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Mabel Weasley: clever. 

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Crazycutee831: yeah, my mother tongue is Hungarian. I live in Hungary (and have a Hungarian Horntail in the back garden.:) Yeah, the new Star Wars movie comes out in Hungary on the 16th May, and I'm totally over the moon, because episode one came out four months later! In September! Now we don't need to wait for it – AND we will see it earlier than the Americans, because we are in Europe, and there will be 00 a.m. earlier here than in America! I have read all four HP books 7 times in Hungarian and 3 times in English, and I've read the first book once in German as well. Read my answer to Mikey. Yeah, I'll write another fic after this (already started working on it.) Oh, you poor one! Surgery! I hope you're all right! Haha, I laughed when you wrote how you read TGSoHH! By mistake! LOL! Fates makes strange things happen, huh?

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Potpourri: oh, you hallucinated that your siblings were bananas??? I hope you didn't eat them :))

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Lady Lupin: congrats on your review! :))

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Mage: I hope you have healed already.

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BlueIce: haha… what's fanfic?!? You know people in Hungary don't know at all what fanfiction is. I read the very first fanfic in February 2000, by mistake. I was surfing on the net, looking for Star Wars sites, then I accidentally clicked on something and it turned out to be a Luke Skywalker/Mara Jade fanfic. It was totally new for me, I had never read anything like that before. Since then whenever I told someone about fanfics, they always asked: what's that? So there are only a couple of people here who know what it is: mainly my family and friends.

TO THOSE WHOSE REVIEWS I HAVEN'T ANSWERED: DON'T BE ANGRY WITH ME, BUT I SIMPLY CANNOT ANSWER ALL REVIEWS, BECAUSE THAT WOULD MAKE THE A/N SECTION LONGER THAN THE ACTUAL CHAPTER. THE OTHER REASON: MANY OF YOU ASK QUESTIONS THAT, IF ANSWERED, WOULD REVEAL TOO MUCH OF THE LATER EVENTS, AND I DON'T WANT TO TELL THINGS IN ADVANCE, BUT I DON'T WANT TO LIE EITHER.

****

Chapter 14

Edelweiss, edelweiss

As the days passed, Harry got better and better. He was still weak, but he didn't have a high temperature anymore, neither did he have hallucinations. He was constantly surrounded by people who volunteered to entertain him, but he never told anyone about his last 'dream' about the mysterious visitor. He wasn't even sure it had happened at all. 

He thanked McGonagall for tending him with such care and Hermione for fetching him the necessary medicine. 

Dennis and the other Hogwarts students (except the Slytherins) visited him every day, and he received dozens of get-well-cards from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students as well, whom he didn't even know.

"So many cards! I bet they've all been sent by ladies." Aberforth remarked on the first of December. "You look much better, kid. About time, you know, you'll have to be up and about in five days!"

"Yeah, I know. The first task." Harry nodded. "Are all security charms placed? Does everything go as planned?"

"Of course it does, don't worry." the old man replied.

"I wish I could help." Harry sighed.

"You just care about your health, young man, and Viktor and I'll care about everything else."

Harry shook his head. "That's simply not fair. When I was starting to feel useful again I came down with this illness. Now surely everyone here thinks that I'm…" his voice trailed off.

"Weak?" Aberforth finished the sentence. His eyes met Harry's, who nodded.

"I hate being weak. Helpless. Impotent." he flushed a bit. "Not that way, I mean…"

"I know what you mean." Dumbledore said. "And I know what this is about. It's not about your inability to help us with the organisation of the tournament. It's not that you couldn't leave the bed for weeks. It's still about your problem with your wife and son, right?"

Harry looked surprised. "Who told you about them?"

"Hermione."

"Hermione?" Harry sat up. "Oh, women! They can never hold their tongue!"

"She just wanted to help, Harry." Aberforth reached out to put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "She knew you'd never tell anyone here, because you think it's a shame."

"_It is_." Harry said.

The old man heaved a sigh. "It shouldn't be. You shouldn't feel ashamed about your son – things like this happen in the wizarding world. My servant, for example, is also a squib, but he lives quite happily, believe me."

"I know, Aberforth." Harry replied. "I feel so terribly ashamed… and NOT because my son's a squib, but because I feel ashamed of it! I hate and despise myself for it!"

"And you cannot forgive yourself."

Harry nodded. "What kind of a father am I, Aberforth?"

"A good one, I believe."

"Good? I'm the worst." Harry covered his face with his hands.

"No, kid. You feel ashamed that you feel ashamed. That means you love your son very much and will be able to be a wonderful father to him."

"Maybe… But that's not all…"

"I know. There's your wife, too."

"I'm so afraid I might lose her, Aberforth." Harry sighed. "That would kill me. She's my life."

Dumbledore squeezed his shoulder encouragingly. "You won't lose her."

"What if I already have?" Harry insisted. "I long to apparate home to her, but I'm also afraid of it. I fear to get to know what I'll find when I go home… I've let my wife send me away while I should have stayed in Great Britain."

"There was nothing you could do then."

"That's it!" Harry punched his pillow with anger. "That I can't do anything!"

"Maybe you can't do anything right now, but things may change."

"Some things will never change." Harry replied defiantly. 

"Have it your way, I see I can't convince you." Aberforth stood up to leave. "You are angry with yourself, the world and everything, young Potter."

"And now I'm going to turn to the Dark Side, eh?" Harry snapped and watched the old man open the door. "Sorry." he called after Aberforth. "I didn't want to hurt you, you just wanted to help me."

Dumbledore turned back from the doorframe. "It seems I can't help you, kid." with that he left the room.

Harry slumped back into his pillow and felt miserable. *Gosh, I never thought I'd be as sour as Filch by the age of nineteen!* he squeezed his eyes shut and tried to go back to sleep. However, he couldn't. Aberforth's words kept echoing in his mind: _you are angry with yourself, the world and everything, young Potter… I can't help you…_

He shook his head. This couldn't carry on like this. He needed to get well, play judge in the tournament and bravely face whatever the future had in store for him – and he decided that it was exactly what he'd do. Be a man.

There was a knock on the door. "Come in!" he shouted and – to his surprise – he saw Krum enter.

"Hello, Viktor, what's up?" he tried to sound nonchalant. He was determined not to hurt anyone else so early in the morning.

"I've just come to see how you are doing." the headmaster replied, avoiding Harry's stare.

"Fine, thanks. It seems I'm going to stay alive, after all. You can count on me in five days."

"Glad to hear." Krum pulled a chair next to Harry's bed and sat down. "But it's not the tournament I wanted to talk to you about."

"What, then?"

"I… I wanted to apologise. For thinking that you and my sister…"

"Oh, come off it, Viktor." Harry waved. "I've already forgotten that."

"But I haven't. I beat you up and tossed you into the snow in minus twenty degrees! Had you not survived, it would have been my fault!"

"I survived, so you don't need to worry about that."

"But I need to!" Krum replied. "I feel pangs of remorse. I'd deserve to be punished."

"Punished?" Harry stifled a chuckle. "Well, had I died, I'd surely haunt you every night along with Anegin and Ivan Ilyich, and you'd have to listen to my whining as well."

Krum's mouth tucked into a smirk. "You're not angry with me, then?"

"No, Viktor." Harry replied.

"And what about my sister?"

"Told you I wasn't interested in her." Harry shrugged.

"That's not what I mean." Viktor said. "Are you angry with her?"

"Let's say I've forgiven her, as long as she doesn't even come near me."

"Don't worry about that. I'll hold her off, even if I need to put _Imperius_ on her."

"_Locomotor Mortis_ will suffice." Harry grinned.

* * * * *

Finally the big day had come – 6th of December. 

Harry was awoken by the excited buzz of the Durmstrang students. Although no student lived on the fourth floor where Harry's room was, the noise they were making reached the fourth floor as well.

Harry stretched with a contented smile. In the last five days he was getting his strength back and had meals in the great hall with the others. On Hermione's advice he also spent a bit of time outdoors to get used to fresh air again. He missed the Weighing of the Wands ceremony, but according to Hermione everything went all right.

He was feeling okay now – at least physically. During the past few days the words of Aberforth kept echoing in his mind, but he tried not to pay attention to them. Anyway, the excitement of the upcoming first task managed to take his mind off his family problems.

Harry jumped out of his bed, dressed quickly and headed for the great hall. On his way downstairs he met with the ghost of Anegin, who didn't look a bit excited about the tournament. He was as indifferent as ever. Harry didn't care for him, neither for Ivan Ilyich, who was complaining about his pains more desperately than ever before.

"Neither of you will ruin my mood today." Harry grinned at the two ghosts and hurried away.

"Good to see that you have a great appetite again, Harry." Viktor greeted him. "Are you totally okay?"

"I'm fine." Harry sat down, ravenous.

While he, the teachers and most of the students were eating with relish, Harry couldn't not notice that Dennis wasn't eating at all.

"You all right, Dennis?" he asked the young Gryffindor sitting at the neighbouring table.

"S'pose so." Creevey nodded with a pale face.

"Poor one." Harry whispered to Hermione. "I still remember my triwizard tournament… I couldn't eat either."

"Could you go and encourage him a bit?" Hermione suggested.

"That's exactly what I was about to do." Harry nodded.

"Hey, Creevey, nervous?" Graham Pritchard asked, smirking.

"No." Dennis replied with shaking lips.

"But of course he is!" Natalie McDonald said. "It's natural. But I'm sure he'll do it all right. I trust you, Dennis."

"Me too." Eleanor Branstone added.

"Thanks." Dennis gave them a small smile and stood up from the table without having touched his sandwich.

"Dennis, could I have a word with you?" Harry stepped to him. "Outside?"

"Er, sure."

They entered the entrance hall where no one was to be seen at the moment.

"I know how you feel, Dennis." Harry began. "I felt the same five years ago."

"But you did it all right, Harry. I'm not sure I also will."

"But I am sure."

A grateful little smile appeared on Creevey's face. "Thanks, Harry… I really hope I won't disappoint you."

"You won't. Especially if you have prepared. Have you?"

"'Course I have. I know what to find and where."

"Good. You found it out all by yourself, I presume?"

"Er… well…"

"You know what? It doesn't matter how you managed to find it out." Harry winked at him. "Even I got help with the dragon task."

"Did you?" Dennis blinked.

"Yes, actually I did." Harry shrugged. "Mad-Eye Moody tipped me off. Not of pure good will, you know…"

Dennis gulped. Did professor Fiodrovna tip him off of pure good will? Well, she told him her reasons, still…

"I gotta go, Harry. To exercise some enchantments, you know." Dennis said and hurried off.

"Good luck!" Harry shouted after him.

"How is he?" Hermione stepped to her brother-in-law.

"How could he be? He feels as though he was going into the lion's den."

"Well, at least Krum's sister doesn't look better than Dennis. Never seen her this pale."

"And that Guillaume Lochar?"

"Self-confident, as ever. He ate well, must have slept well, and he was looking rather sure of himself. I think he must have been tipped off."

"Just like Mileta and Dennis." Harry grinned.

"Dennis?" Hermione raised an eyebrow. "I understand if someone here told Mileta, but who would tell Dennis??? Oh, tell me it wasn't you, Harry!"

"It wasn't me, I swear. Though I really don't know who it could be. Aberforth?"

"Maybe. He used to be a Hogwarts student, after all."

"Well, it doesn't matter. All that matters is that Dennis has to win the tournament for Hogwarts."

"Really, Harry, now that it's already the day of the first task, would you tell me what it is?" Hermione asked with an impish smile.

Harry led her to the window. "Do you see those mountains over there?"

* * * * *

By ten o'clock all the students had left the castle, gathering at the foot of the nearby mountains.

"Do they have to climb the mountains or what?" Eleanor wondered.

"Dunno. They have to get some plant, don't they?" Natalie said.

"Yeah, Dennis told us something like that. Do you reckon he knows what that plant is?"

"I hope so." Malcolm Baddock cut in.

"You, Malcolm?" Eleanor blinked in surprise. "I thought you hated Dennis."

"I really don't like him, but you know… he's still the Hogwarts champion, and I'd rather be rooting for him than for that blonde Apollo or Krum's ugly sister."

"Nice to hear that." Natalie remarked. 

Shortly before eleven o' clock all teachers and judges arrived, along with the three champions.

Madame Maxime was proudly walking up to the others, arm in arm with Guillaume Etienne Pierre Louis Eugéne de Lochar, who was wearing a broad smile, showing all his thirty-two gleaming teeth. Harry was strongly reminded of Gilderoy Lockhart – and that gave him the feeling that Guillaume might not be an honest fair-player.

His gaze met that of Mileta Krum, who was practically trembling.

"Good luck, Mileta." he told her as she passed by him.

She didn't even look back at him, which could be due to her extreme nervousness or her fear of Harry because of her little lie that got both of them into such an unpleasant situation.

As all three champions lined up before the judges, Aberforth Dumbledore rose to speak:

"Welcome to the first task of the Triwizard Tournament!" fervent clapping followed his words. "As you all know, the three champions, Mileta Krum, Guillaume Lochar and Dennis Creevey, will have to accomplish three magical tasks. For each task they can get fifty points, and the one with the most points will be the winner at the end. Today's task is going to start in a couple of minutes." the crowd squealed with excitement. "The three champions have only been given a clue that they will have to find a special magical plant, but they had to find out what it was, and where to find it." Harry's glance shifted to Guillaume's face, who cast a surreptitious glance at Professor Zvezda, astronomy teacher. The young teacher blushed and diverted her stare, while a triumphant grin spread on Lochar's face. Aberforth, meanwhile, was carrying on with his speech: "If they managed to find it out, then they could prepare for the task that is to be accomplished on the Blue Mountain here." he pointed his wand at the highest mountain. "I hope that all three champions have succeeded in finding out what the plant concerned is. I'm not going to name it: you either know it or not. As you know, the Plant-That-Must-Not-Be-Named lives only on the Blue Mountain, and has an exceptional power to heal serious injuries caused by curses. The champions have about four hours before sunset, and it is strongly advised to find it, before it gets dark. There is only one specimen of the You-Know-What living on the mountain, so all three champions will need to hurry to be the first to get it. There will be of course some interesting traps and jinxes on their way up the mountain, but if they knew what to look for, then they also know where to look for it, and what to expect… Well, not everything, of course, but hopefully you all have managed to prepare yourselves for dealing with the dangers of a mountain. The champions don't need to worry, they won't be entirely alone, because we'll be following their movement on magic maps." Aberforth grinned at Harry, who had told him about the Marauder's Map and together they designed such maps of the Blue Mountain. "And now, it's time for you to start. Ready?" Dennis, Guillaume and Mileta nodded. "All right, then. One… two… three!" green sparks shot out of Aberforth's wand, and the three champions started on the path that led up to the top of the mountain.

* * * * *

"Do you see them?" asked Hermione, holding her omnioculars to her eyes.

"Nay. Their path must have bent somewhere and now they are on the other side of the mountain." Harry replied, looking at the map. "Yeah. They're on the other side… I just hope Dennis is well."

"He's a Gryffindor, Harry. He'll do all right." she said.

Meanwhile, the three champions where climbing the mountain, following the narrow path. After an hour of walking the path branched off into three paths. 

"I don't care which way you go, but I'm going separate from you." Guillaume Lochar stated and took the path to the right.

"I guess I'm going on the left path." Mileta said. "You'd better not follow me, Creevey. You would only hinder me."

Dennis shrugged and took the path in the middle. After ten minutes of walk he lost sight of the other two competitors. The thick, snowy rocks of the Blue Mountain hid them from his eyes. Dennis sighed, not too happy to be alone, but hoping to be the first to glimpse the Black Edelweiss. Suddenly he came to a halt: his path ended. There was a thick wall of rock in front of him. "Where now?" he mused, looking up. "Oh, there!" he saw that his path continued three metres above. He contemplated for a minute whether to try and climb, but decided against it. All rocks seemed too slippery with ice and he had never before climbed a mountain. "_Wingardium Leviosa_!" he said, making a swish and flick, then pointing the tip of his wand at himself. He had never seen people using the levitation charm on themselves, but he couldn't think of anything better. To his great satisfaction the charm worked on him. Soon his feet touched solid rock again.

"Whew, that was cool!" he told himself, wishing that someone had seen him now. He had no idea that someone had _really _seen him.

He continued his way up the path that kept curving and ramifying into several paths. Whenever the way ramified, Dennis chose one of the paths with instinct, hoping that he made the right choice. He couldn't be sure, though. To add to his insecurity, he had a funny feeling of being watched. He looked around, but saw no one at all.

As he turned left on the path, he caught a glimpse of a flower: the very first plant he had seen so far.

The flower was blood-red.

*Strange…* Dennis thought. *There isn't supposed to be more than one kind of plant on the Blue Mountain in December… is there?* he knelt down to examine the flower and started to feel more and more insecure. *What if it isn't the Black Edelweiss we have to look for? What if that Potions teacher gave me the wrong book to mislead me? She's rooting for Mileta, after all! What if the required plant is this red thingy? But… there wasn't another winter-flower mentioned in the book…* he shook his head. *Get a grip, Creevey and have a try. Fortune favours the brave, and you're a Gryffindor, after all…* he convinced himself and reached out for the flower. As soon as he picked it, the hillside started to shudder all around him – and especially over him.

"Avalanche!"

"Oh, damn it, Dennis picked the decoy flower!" Harry groaned, looking at the little map that indicated an avalanche.

"Avalanche?" Hermione paled. "But Harry… that's extremely dangerous! He might even die!"

Dennis knew that he was in trouble. Big trouble.

An immense shower of snow started down the hillside, advancing on him with a thundering roar. 

*Think, Dennis, think!* he told himself, madly trying to remember a spell that could help now. "Avalanche, avalanche… what is the spell, I've read it, I know, but… Nives… nives… aha! _Nives de monte devolutae sisto_!" he shouted, pointing his wand at the huge amount of pouring snow. The avalanche had almost reached him, but at this instant it stopped and the snow settled peacefully onto the slope again, as though there had never been an avalanche.

"Whew, that was close." Dennis wiped his forehead.

"He stopped it! He stopped it!" Hermione jumped for joy.

"Well done, Dennis!" Harry said proudly, looking at the map, seeing that the little dot labelled Dennis Creevey moved on, walking up on the hillside again.

"But Harry… you said that you and Aberforth had placed some security charms." Hermione said. "Such charms wouldn't have let an avalanche to start, would they?"

"Well, you know, we placed the decoy flower there, so that if one of the champions sees it and isn't sure what he should be looking for, then he might pick it. In the instant you pick it, you set off the avalanche, but don't worry, the security charms were well-placed. Had Dennis not been able to stop it, the charm would have been automatically activated and would have stopped the snow a second before it reached him. Not dangerous, but a bit of a nasty shock for the careless champions."

"I see." she nodded.

* * * * *

Although it was minus twenty degrees, Dennis was sweating profusely. He wiped his forehead, not wanting his perspiration to freeze. It was hard work, mountain-climbing. "Where are you edelweiss? Where are you?" he muttered as his path turned left. He was surprised to see the entrance of an ice-cave in front of him. He looked around to see whether there was another path, but there wasn't. He had to enter the cave.

The cave was huge: not wide, but very long with an extremely high ceiling. Dennis was positive that he would get to the other side of the mountain again if he walked through it. 

To his surprise the floor of the cave wasn't rock, nor ice: it was water. He couldn't imagine how water hadn't frozen in here – it must have been some kind of magic. "Now how am I going to reach the other end of the cave?" he simply didn't feel like swimming in such a cold. On the other hand, he was sure that it wasn't advisable to swim in that water at all, because the surface of it was bubbling madly. It might contain dangerous materials…

"All right, I'll sail through, then." Dennis said and conjured a boat just big enough for one person. He launched it, and was just about to go aboard when the small wooden construction started to give off fumes, then caught fire. Dennis watched as it submerged into the 'water'. "This is some kind of acid, or worse." he stated. "But how am I going to cross it, then? I cannot levitate myself long enough to reach the other end of the cave!" he heaved a deep sigh and crouched down to examine the liquid.

Suddenly a strange figure materialised in front of him. It was a man dressed in some ancient-looking armour and a helmet with two horns protruding from it. The guy strongly reminded Dennis of a Viking warrior. 

"Good day to you, young champion." the man bowed slightly. "My name is Heimdall, the guard of the rainbow-bridge."

"The rainbow-bridge?" Dennis blinked. "I thought it was some legend. A fairy tale."

The man smiled furtively. "Believe me, it isn't a legend. The rainbow-bridge truly exists, up in Norway."

"But if you are its guard, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in Norway, guarding your bridge?"

"Ah, I asked a good friend of mine to take care of it for the duration of the first task." Heimdall replied. "I was asked by Aberforth Dumbledore to come here and _play _a bit. He's also a good friend of mine. So I came and I'm ready to help you by conjuring a small replica of the rainbow-bridge, on which you can cross the cave."

"And what do I have to do for that? 'Cause you aren't doing this gratis, are you?"

"No, of course not." Heimdall shook his head. "You have to fight me. If you win, I'll give you the bridge."

"And if not?" Dennis asked suspiciously.

"Then you can go back the path you've come here…" the guard replied, smiling. "…if you are still able to walk, that is." 

"Oh, great." the boy sighed. "All right, how do we fight? Wizard duel?"

"Wizard duel? What's that?" Heimdall asked. "I meant real fight. With these." he conjured two swords out of nowhere, throwing one of them at Dennis. The boy caught, and almost dropped it – it was so heavy.

"How am I supposed to duel with this? This must weigh at least thirty kilos!" he said reproachfully.

The guard shrugged. "Then make it be lighter."

"Oh, of course!" Dennis slapped his forehead and accomplished a charm to make the sword light enough for him to hold, but heavy enough to strike with it. He also took off his fur-coat, so that it wouldn't hinder him in the fight.

"And now, we duel." Heimdall bowed, so did Dennis.

The guard was the first to strike, but Dennis managed to duck out of the way. He was a small boy, after all, and now it was a great advantage. Heimdall stroke again, and Dennis parried it, making their swords clash with a loud clink. 

"Not bad, boy!" the guard said appreciatively.

"It seems I'm a natural talent." Dennis grinned, and moved a millisecond late, so Heimdall's sword made a long gash into his robes, slicing into his flesh as well. "Ouch!" he hissed, jumping back, touching his bleeding arm.

"Conceited, aren't we, little friend?" the guard asked, grinning. 

"Don't think so!" Dennis retorted, making his first offensive. For Heimdall fighting was nothing but a bit of every-day training, so Dennis' ridiculous strike didn't frighten him at all. 

"Easy does it, little friend!" he laughed, and with a swish, he knocked the sword out of the boy's hand. Dennis immediately reached for his wand to get the sword back, but before he could have shouted the summoning charm, Heimdall dropped Dennis' weapon into the water. 

"Oh, no!" the boy screamed as he saw his sword plunge into the poisonous lake.

"Oh, yes." Heimdall smirked and pointed the tip of his sword at Dennis' throat. Dennis gulped and muttered something incomprehensible. Heimdall thought he must be praying. "You're defeated." the guard stated.

"Not yet!" the boy spat.

"What makes you think that?" Heimdall asked jovially, looking directly into the boy's eyes.

"Just this." Dennis reached out and pushed the guard backwards. Heimdall let out a yelp and fell on his back, dropping his sword.

Dennis immediately shouted _Accio_ at the sword and pointed it at the guard's throat. "I've won."

"Yeah, you've won." Heimdall growled, sitting up. "I should have noticed you jinxing me with a hidden wand. Clever tactic, though. Now would you take this curse off me?" he pointed at his legs. 

"Sure. If you conjure the bridge first."

"All right." the guard nodded, taking a horn out of his pocket, and blowing it. As the horn's sound reverberated on the cave's walls, Dennis saw some transparent, bow-like thing appear above the 'water'. The thing rippled and turned from transparent into a disarray of colours that finally organised themselves into order: on the right hand side it was lilac, next to it red, then came orange, yellow, green and blue. The rainbow was completed.

Dennis reached out to touch it: it was solid, and presumably thick enough for a man to walk through it.

"Thanks." he smiled, put on his coat and stepped onto the bridge. "Oh," he turned around, pointing his wand at Heimdall's legs. "_Finite Locomotor Mortis_."

"Thanks." the guard called after him. "It was fun fighting with you. I hope at least one of the other two champions also come this way. I'm always up to a good scrap."

Dennis chuckled and started down the bridge. "Good bye, Heimdall!"

"Bye, and good luck!"

"Ah, so Dennis Creevey battled and defeated my friend, Heimdall!" Aberforth whistled admiringly, looking at the magic map of the mountain. "Not bad, kid, not bad!"

The rainbow-bridge ended at the exit of the cave. Dennis stepped out and welcomed the fresh winter air. He saw that he was at a much higher point of the Blue Mountain than he had been when entering the cave. *Was the cave not horizontal?* he mused. *But it looked horizontal… strange. Must have been bewitched.* he looked down from the path and saw several small points beneath him. He had arrived back at the front side of the mountain, and he was seeing the judges and the other students below.

"I can see Dennis again." Harry told Hermione, holding his omnioculars to his eyes. "He looks all right. But the worst is yet to come. He is going to reach the Devil's Slope in a couple of minutes. My, I wouldn't be in his place!"

Dennis looked around after having exited the cave. There were two paths there, but both led up to an extremely steep slope. "Do I need to climb this?" he groaned, pulling out a small pair of binoculars from his coat-pocket. "Oh, yeah… I need to!" he breathed, as he caught a glimpse of something small and black at the top of the slope. "The Black Edelweiss!"

Suddenly he felt full of energy and confidence, being so close to his destination. He started climbing the slope, but soon realised that it wasn't as easy as he expected. The snow was frozen up here, making him slip down after each step.

"It's so close! There has to be a way to get up there! It's so damn high to levitate!" he muttered, groping around for a protruding rock to hold onto, but there was none. The slope was sleek and totally devoid of rocks. Dennis had seen Muggles climbing mountains on TV, and remembered that they were using spikes that they pushed into the small crevices. He flipped his wand, conjuring a peg, and embedded it into the ice with another flick. He tried it, and it held strong enough to bear his weight. He conjured another dozen pegs, boring them into the icy slope, this way creating a series of footholds. 

He started to climb. One peg, the next one, another again… he was getting nearer and nearer to his destination: the peak, where the desired flower bloomed. He started sweating again, his mouth felt as dry as a parchment, but he kept climbing. Having stepped on the last peg, he reached out for the edelweiss. However, in the same second another hand also reached out for it, from the other side of the cliff.

"Creevey!"

"Lochar!"

"Zat's mine!"

"No, I saw it first!"

"I'll curse you, you filzy little…"

"Leave my edelweiss alone!"

"Eat dung!"

"Beat it!"

Guillaume Lochar's blonde head appeared from behind the cliff, as he climbed over the ridge. "Sod off, Creevey!" he shouted, pointing his wand at him.

"You sod off, Lochar!" Dennis bellowed.

"Aaaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhhhhhhh! Heeeeeeeeeeeeelp!" a female voice tore into the air.

"Mileta!" Dennis turned back from Lochar, looking down the slope. Mileta Krum was being attacked by something big, white and furry.

Guillaume – using the lapse of Dennis' attention – picked the edelweiss and descended on the other side of the cliff, without caring for the damsel in distress.

Dennis, however, forgot about the flower and was desperate to help the girl. He sat on his butt and slipped down the slope. If it hadn't been about rescuing someone from lethal danger, he would have enjoyed it. 

"Mileta! I'm coming!" he yelled with his wand at the ready. "Hey, you big furry oaf! I'm heeeere!" he waved, trying to distract the attacker's attention.

"Hmph?" the big, furry oaf grunted and turned to Dennis.

"_Petrificus Totalus_!" the boy yelled, and the beast stiffened, then fell into the snow with a loud thud.

"Where are they? I cannot see them!" Hermione said, looking into the omniocular.

"Neither can I." Harry replied. "They must be hidden from us by a cliff or something." he looked at the map he was holding. "Oh, come on, Dennis! You're so close to the edelweiss!!!"

"Look, Harry! I see him! He's climbing!" Hermione squealed with excitement.

"Yeah! He's using pegs like Muggle mountaineers! Great!" Harry said, watching the scene through his omnioculars. "He's going to get the edelweiss! Go, Dennis!" 

"Hey, what's happening up there?" Hermione gasped. "There's someone… blonde!"

"Lochar!" Harry spat, casting a glance at the map as well, where a dot with the label 'Guillame Lochar' was to be seen. "He's going to hurt Dennis!"

"No! Something's happening! Dennis is… leaving the edelweiss and slipping down the slope?"

"What the hell got into him?" Harry shouted. "He was so close!"

"Oh my, what is happening to Creevey?" McGonagall's worried voice cut in.

"Dunno, professor. Something must be going on at the foot of the slope, but we can't see it from here." Harry replied, looking at the map again. "There's Mileta and… there's a fourth dot, Hermione… but… what is that thing?"

"A fourth dot?" she gasped.

"Yeah. And… it seems that Lochar got the flower." he sighed.

"Vairy good. Guillaume iz talented, indeed." Olympe Maxime stated proudly.

More than one hour passed before the spectators saw the first figure return.

It was the Beauxbatons student, holding the Black Edelweiss, grinning smugly.

"Wondehrful!" Olympe clasped her hands. "Well done, Guillaume!"

"Thank you, headmistress." the blonde boy nodded, handing her the edelweiss. "Flower to ze flower."

"Oh, my." Madame Maxime blushed and took the edelweiss.

"And where are the others?" Viktor Krum asked.

"No idea." Guillaume shrugged. 

"What happened there on the peak?" Harry asked. "We saw you and Dennis fight over the edelweiss, then he disappeared."

The blonde boy shrugged again.

"This is fishy." Harry whispered to Hermione, who nodded her agreement.

"Oh, there they come!" Aberforth shouted, pointing his finger at two figures walking down a snowy path. They both looked extremely tired, and in Mileta's case, bruised, too.

"What happened? Mileta!" Viktor ran up to her, embracing her tightly.

"What happened to you two?" Minerva clasped her hands. "You look like as though you had been run over by a hipogriff!"

"It was a yeti." Mileta Krum sniffed, her whole body trembling. "It attacked me."

"Yeti???" Hermione gasped. "There are NO yetis in Russia! They reside in the Himalayas!"

"That's right." Viktor nodded. "How on Earth did a yeti get here? Does _anyone _know?" he looked around with a serious expression.

Aberforth Dumbledore, trembling from head to toes, raised his hand slowly into the air.

****

A/N2: Latin explanation: _nives de monte devolutae sisto = _to stop an avalanche (sorry, I still don't speak Latin, only got it from a dictionary).

Heimdall is a Viking god who guards the Rainbow Bridge (though I don't know whether it's in Norway, or Sweden or where. We should ask the Vikings about that.)


	15. Snow White

****

A/N: thanks for the reviews, people! You're great readers!!! :))

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Blondie in Disguise: nice to see you again!

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zzxm: I know that the last line reminded you of Neville – it was deliberate :))

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Maddy: this time I hope that the BBC is wrong and HP5 doesn't come out in May, because if it does, then I'm going to fail all my exams, because I'll be reading it over and over instead of studying! :)) The French one's name is Guillaume (pronounce it as Giyom).

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AmandaPanda: sure, moral fibre rules!

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spangle*star: no, no one but Aberforth knew about the yeti. Of course there'll be a Yule ball.

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blaubaerin: Dennis is muggle born (remember: Colin is a mudblood, that's why the basilisk petrifies him, and Dennis is Colin's brother, their father is a simple milkman, so a muggle. During the summer holiday Dennis watches the TV day in day out :)) Dennis got only a small wound, he's not really bruised. Harry's illness served the purpose to let Tatyana know about his going into the netherworld (that will be important later). I thought it'd be the easiest way to let her know about Harry almost dying for several times when he was really close to dying.

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Gwen Fifortry: what are you kneazle and puffskein called? My Horntail dragon's name is Süsü. (there was a Hungarian animated series about a dragon when I was a little child and the dragon – a rather stupid but kind-hearted dragon – was called Süsü.) Süsü means 'a bit silly'.

'Excellent chapter' in Hungarian is 'kiváló fejezet!' (if you don't have á and ó, just write kivalo fejezet, I'll know what you mean :))

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Mikey: nay is the same as no, it's also an English word, but maybe a bit old-fashioned. I just like it.

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BlueIce: oh, at last someone sees the real Dumbledore in Aberforth! Not the stupid, but the wise one! I'm so happy! :)) The weather in Hungary? Unsettled. One day it's raining, the other day it's sunny, then raining again, then sunny again. Like always in April. I'm not really familiar with Farenheit, we use Celsius degrees in Hungary.

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X_Tow_Naga: the school nurse was simply stupid, leave it at that. About Harry being ashamed because he's ashamed – well, of course he's ashamed of his son being a squib, but he's more ashamed of being ashamed and that shows what a great guy he is :)) Ginny can't come to Durmstrang through the floo-network (it will be explained in chapter… 26, I guess. This floo-network is a bit tricky, much trickier than the one at Hogwarts.) The same for Ron. This story is taking place in 1999 (and will end in 2000.) Harry had surely learnt from Sirius how to make that map – they had been living in the same house for months, they surely talked about it. Why always –20 degrees? Well… it might have been –21 or –22 as well (but after sunset it surely sank to –40). Dennis isn't a chemistry or physics professor to know all kinds of materials that don't catch fire – neither am I. I always hated chemistry and physics as well – of course you, being a boy, know these things, but I don't. Why didn't he separate the water? Because he's not Moses. Yeah, I'm not an action writer, never was and never will be. My action scenes suck. Yes, we have Digimon here in Hungary, but I only know that it's something like Pokemon (I didn't watch either or them.) I guess it had to be translated from Japan. Mileta was too scared to think – you know sometimes people turn numb with fear, that's what happened to her. Now you could ask: why did she become a champion, then? Well… she'll turn out to be a much better fighter later on. She just needs time. Conjure a helicopter? That would give a bit of trouble even to McGonagall, wouldn't it? The champions needed to pick the flower with their own hands. Why did yetis live in the Himalayas? Ask Rowling! She wrote in Fantastic beasts and where to find them that yetis lived in Tibet! I took it from her book! The bigfoot that people sighted all over the world must have been some kind of a furry troll (as Rowling writes that the yeti is supposed to be the troll's far 'relative'.) I'm helping with your school project: I have a 4 year old Pentium II with Windows95 (and I'm planning to get a new one soon). Sorry, I didn't really understand your last sentence: '…I would count you as a writer, as I can't really see you doing something else better than that.' Was this a positive remark on my writing abilities or does it mean something else? Sorry, sometimes I don't understand stuff what people write, although I know all words in the sentence. So, what exactly did you mean?

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baybee: Harry and Ginny will meet in next chapter, and you'll see Lily and Dan again!

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princesswitch: Dumbledore put the yeti there one night. He'll tell more of this in this chapter. How did he get one? Well, went to Tibet and got a random yeti. 

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Super Saya-Jin Gotan: figures? Hm… I don't understand that sorry. Figure can mean lots of things: numbers, amount of money, a woman's body, etc. For 'figures' in plural I only found: 'the activity of adding, multiplying numbers' in my Longman dictionary. What exactly did you mean by that? (I feel so stupid for not understanding this, but I'm Hungarian, after all.)

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Tessa: you wrote that I didn't seem to be as evil as Rita. Oh, because you haven't read chapters 19-36 yet. There I'll be definitely evil. *wicked Rita-like grin with three glittering golden-teeth*

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Almah: Ginny and the kids: next chapter. Ginny didn't know about Harry's illness and couldn't have just come to Durmstrang, it'll be explained later, why.

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PepsiAngel: read my answer to zzxm. Lochar and Gildy… you'll get to know about it later. Don't worry about the words you made up – you explained it, after all :) I and my friends also made up words that only we use: for example my best friend and I use the word 'erde' for WC – the word comes from the German word Erde (means Earth). My friend accidentally translated Erde as 'forest' into Hungarian (the Hungarian word for forest is erdõ, that sounds very much like Erde.) At home I have a picture of a forest on the door of the WC, and since my best friend saw it, we've been calling the WC 'erde'. Silly, huh? (sorry about my blabbering:)

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Crazycutee831: I hope you get well soon.

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Wood's secret lover: next chapter: going back to England.

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aurora riddle: but Harry wasn't properly clad when he did his 'snow angel' :)) Anyway, it might have been –40 degrees, I don't know. For me even –20 is very cold, brrrrr… I'd like to live in constant +30 degrees!

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Nefertiri: next chapter, next chapter. Yes, Harry is a judge.

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jennyKT: yes, Edelweiss comes from the Sound of Music song (I love that movie and that song as well!) Yeah, you could see SW lines here, I'm a huge SW fan :))

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Arif: yes, the Potions professor seems to be too obvious to be a villain… still she can be. But not totally. No, it's not a decoy, but you don't know the whole truth about THE villain(s). Yes, the sorcerer's stone is philosopher's stone – in Great Britain and Australia. In Hungarian it's 'bölcsek köve'. I know it in German as well: 'der Stein der Weisen.' French: 'l' ecole des sorciers', Italian: 'scorpi la magia'. That's all I know :( Yea, Edelweiss is a German word, it's really pronounced as ee-del-vise – haven't you seen Sound of Music? There's a song about it (a very beautiful song). 

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J-Kid: yes, I live in Hungary. I believe that Hungary is VERY different from Romania. I don't want to insult the Romanians, but Hungary has more culture, more educated people, better economic situation… and we feel extremely insulted if people mix up our capital, Budapest, with Romania's capital, Bukarest. It's true that there's prejudice between the two countries. The Romanians are jealous that we Hungarians are more cultured and fairing better than they do, so they hate us, and in a way fear us as well (though they shouldn't). After World War I 1/3 of Hungary's area went over to the Romanians, and since then they've been afraid that one day we'd want that area back. They simply know that it had been OUR area for a millennium and that they don't really have a right to have it – but we have assured them that we don't want it back. They just don't believe us. That's their problem, in my humble opinion. I'd like to travel to Transylvania in the future, because it's really beautiful (once belonged to Hungary), but I don't think that I will, because people there don't like the Hungarian tourists :(( Too bad. Which part of Romania have you been to? Transylvania, maybe? 

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Pumpkin3223: D/G means Draco/Ginny. There are lots of such fics on ffnet, but I basically dislike them. (I don't want to hurt the feelings of any D/G writers here, please, don't get made at me! I just think that Gin and Draco aren't made for each other.)

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Toby Haine: welcome back, my friend! :))

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Derkaun Zarion: hi, Shaun! Is your net-connection working all right nowadays?

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Mage: the f*cking villain? Just wait, you'll get to know him/her.

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The Face of Evil: hello again, Aditya!

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apple-pie: hahahaha! You accidentally wrote: 'I hope Dennis will get extra points for _shaving _Mileta!' Not saving, but shaving! LOL, I laughed sooooo hard!!! That was cute :))

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Chapter 15

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Snow White

"Aberforth?" Krum raised an eyebrow. "What do you know of this?"

"Well, Viktor, um…" the old man looked at his boots, "so, the yeti… er… he was brought here by me."

"You?" everyone gasped.

"But why on Earth did you bring a yeti?" Krum shouted.

"I… I didn't want to hurt anyone, I actually put him out on the White Mountain, not on the Blue Mountain, so he must have wandered over from one mountain to the other. I never thought he might attack a student… he is a very peaceful creature, indeed."

"Peaceful, eh? It almost killed my sister!" Viktor croaked. "Why did you bring here that beast?"

"Don't call Snow White a beast!" Aberforth retorted.

"_Snow White_?" Harry and Hermione asked in unison.

"Yeah, that's his name, 'cause he's so white and cute…" Dumbledore replied.

"Cute? That monster?" Mileta shrieked. "It wanted to crumple me!"

"And where's that yeti now?" Krum asked.

"Up at the foot of that slope." Dennis pointed at the Devil's Slope. "I stupefied it. It might have woken up since then, I don't know."

"We've got to catch it so it won't endanger anyone!" Krum stated. "I shall fly up there and bring the beast down."

"I'm coming, too." Harry said, lifting his wand: "Accio _Rocket 4000_!"

Krum did the same – called for his own broomstick. In a couple of minutes both brooms arrived from the castle.

*Just like in the old times.* Harry thought grinning and mounted his broomstick.

Half an hour later they returned with a snoring yeti that they were hanging like a marionette with charms while they flew on their broomsticks.

When they touched down onto the snow it was already dark, so several magical torches had been lit. All students and teachers were still standing there, at the foot of Blue Mountain, very excited. They all wanted to witness the judges give points to the champions.

As Harry and Viktor made the yeti's body descend into the snow, it gave out a growl and opened its sky-blue eyes. It blinked stupidly, looking around. As he caught a glimpse of Aberforth, who was standing about twenty feet away, he stood up and started running in the old man's direction.

Minerva, who was standing in midway between the yeti and Dumbledore, screamed and flung herself on Aberforth's neck. Impishly grinning, the old wizard gathered her into a protective embrace, while the yeti didn't stop – he ran up to the old man and McGonagall, and pulled them both into a firm hug.

Minerva nearly fell unconscious and Viktor was about the shout _Stupefy! _at the yeti, when Dumbledore yelled _No!_

"Why? He's attacked you!" Krum pointed his wand at the yeti.

"Oh, no!" Aberforth laughed in Snow White's grip. "He's just greeted me with an embrace. See?" he entangled himself from the yeti's arms, still holding McGonagall with one hand. "He's as peaceful as a bunny. Couldn't hurt a fly! Good boy, Snow White!" he tapped the yeti's back.

"Good boy?" Hermione blinked. "But… that's a beast!"

"Beast? Him? No." Dumbledore smiled. "He's an over-sized teddy-bear, nothing else. I'm sure he only wanted to play with you, Ms. Krum." he turned to Mileta.

"Play?" the girl gaped. "He… he was chasing me first…"

"Sure. He was playing a game of tag." Dumbledore replied. "But his favourite game is hide-and-seek. He is a real master in it, aren't you, Snow White?"

The yeti humphed again, looking from one person to the other. He really didn't look like some dangerous beast. Dennis realised that it must have been the yeti who was following him, giving him the feeling that he was being watched. No wonder that he didn't see the yeti – it blended with the snow.

"But… you still haven't told us why you have brought this animal." Hermione told Aberforth.

"Oh, well…" the old man grinned at Minerva, whom he was still holding, "…it was because of Minerva."

"Me?" McGonagall gasped and quickly entangled herself from his embrace.

"Yeah." Aberforth shrugged. "You said the only way you'd jump into my arms was if a yeti chased you. So I've brought you one."

After the laughter died away, Krum told Aberforth that he had to transport the yeti back to Tibet. The old man looked sad, but nodded and promised to take Snow White home that very night.

"I think I know when he brought the yeti here." Harry whispered to Hermione. "The night before we went shopping to St. Petersburg. That night I saw him leave on his sleigh."

"All right, then," Krum spoke up, "may I ask the judges to put their heads together and give points to the champions? Remember, each champion can get fifty points put together, so all judges may give them points from zero to ten."

"I hope you get fifty points, Dennis." Mileta said with her eyes downcast. "You saved my life. I, on the other hand don't deserve to get any."

"How can you say that, Mileta?" Dennis shook his head. "You reached the Devil's Slope, and I'm sure you also fought yourself through a lot of traps. Right?"

"Well, there were a couple of them, that's right." she shrugged.

Guillaume Lochar stepped to them, wearing a huge grin. "You'd better not expect many points… you couldn't get ze edelweiss, after all."

"Eat dung." Dennis said, turning his back on the French boy.

After ten minutes of discussion, Krum turned to the crowd, clearing his throat. "The jury has made its decision about the points. They are the following: Mr. Guillaume Lochar, who managed to fight down all obstacles in his way and even succeeded in getting the Black Edelweiss, but didn't care to help Ms. Krum, is rewarded forty-five points."

"Forty-five?" Lochar blanched. "I should 'ave got fifty! Zis iz because o' you!" he growled at Mileta. "You shouldn't 'ave got into trouble wiz ze yeti!"

"As if I wanted that beast!" Mileta snapped.

"Ms. Krum," Viktor continued, "managed to reach the Devil's Slope, where she got hindered by a yeti. However, she was late, and the two other competitors reached the slope much quicker. We reward her thirty-five points."

Mileta's face beamed with happiness.

"See, you got quite many points." Dennis smiled at her.

"Mr. Creevey," Krum carried on, "had the most difficult and dangerous way to the Edelweiss, still he reached it at the same time as Mr. Lochar. However, when he saw that Ms. Krum was in trouble, he didn't hesitate to help her. Mr. Creevey abandoned the edelweiss to save Ms. Krum's life. He is therefore rewarded forty-five points."

"What?" Dennis blinked. "Forty-five?"

"You deserve it!" Mileta flung herself on Dennis' neck. "Thank you for saving me, my hero."

"You're welcome." Dennis blushed.

* * * * *

"I can't believe we are going home tomorrow!" Harry sighed happily. Two and a half weeks had gone since the first task, and now it was 23rd December. 

"Yeah, I can't wait to see my Ronnie!" Hermione nodded, fixing the wrapper on a package with her wand. "Poor Madame Maxime, though…"

"Poor? Why?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

"She has to stay here with the Beauxbatons students. She cannot meet Hagrid."

"Oh, really. Poor Hagrid. He must be devastated without his _little _wife."

"Is that true that they're planning on having children?" Hermione asked, tying a blue ribbon on the package.

"Yeah, Hagrid said something like that back at my birthday party." Harry reached out to place his finger on the ribbon, so Hermione could make a tighter knot.

"Thanks." she smiled at him, but seeing his face, her smile vanished at once. She reached out to squeeze his hand. "I should have known better than to come up with this child-thing."

"No, it's okay, Herm. I'm… I'm over it. Really."

"Are you sure?" her stare bore deeply into his.

Harry cast down his eyes. "No."

"Harry, is there anything I could do?"

"No. It's me who has to deal with this. Me and Ginny."

"And that's what is bothering you, right?" she said with a knowing sort of expression.

"S'pose so. She… I… I'm not sure she'll ever be able to have sex with me without worrying. She'll always be afraid that it might happen again… that she'd give birth to another squib. No matter what we do, whatever protection we use, there's always the possibility that she might get pregnant, and I fear that she wouldn't want to have another child."

"And you?" Hermione asked. "Do _you _want more children?"

"Of course I do!" he replied. "It's so wonderful being a father… seeing your kids be born, grow, learn to walk and talk… I wouldn't mind having non-magic children, but Ginny… she would. A couple of weeks ago I had a discussion with Aberforth, and he pointed out that I was angry. Not only with myself, but with the whole world. I was accusing everything and everyone for Daniel's lack of magic skills... And he was right. I've thought it over a hundred times, and I've managed to come to terms with it… I don't care if my son's a Muggle, I really don't. But Ginny does and she'll always do."

"You're a bit afraid going home now, aren't you?" Hermione dropped her package on top of the other dozen packages – all Christmas presents for her relatives and friends.

"Yes." Harry replied, but not to her, rather to his shoes. "I'm afraid. Sirius wrote that Ginny seemed quite all right… in my absence. I don't know how she'll behave when I arrive. I don't know whether she'll be as happy to see me as I will be to see her… I've missed her so much, Hermione… and I've missed sex with her." he turned away, feeling that he was turning red. "You surely think that I'm a sex-maniac or something…"

To his surprise, Hermione laughed. "No, Harry." she put an arm around him. "I'd never think you're a sex-maniac. Truth be told I've also missed sex with Ron… my first thing to do at home will be to rip his clothes off." she added with a wink.

"Ron's a lucky chap." Harry grinned. "I wish I could do the same with Ginny. Rip her clothes off." he diverted his stare. "But I know I can't. She has to make the first step."

"What if she won't?" Hermione frowned.

"I don't know…" he sighed. "…but there's a strong chance for me to go mad with a bit more time of sex-deprivation."

"Aren't you doing it on your own?" she made a curious face.

"But Hermione!" he snapped. "It's… sick… doing it alone."

"But tried it, haven't you?"

"Every boy above thirteen tried it, Hermione." he folded his arms. "But it's better with Ginny."

Harry was surprised to hear her chuckle again. "This isn't laughing matter." he tried to scowl at her, but his attempt at looking serious was thwarted by her mad giggling. He also started to laugh.

* * * * *

"The castle will be empty without you, Herm-own-ninny." Viktor sighed after dinner, when all the other teachers had already left the staff-table. 

"Empty? But there are all those hundreds of children, and Madame Maxime, Aberforth and professor McGonagall…" she suddenly slapped her forehead. "Oh, my, Viktor! Minerva will go mad when she gets to know that Aberforth is going to spend the next weeks here! Poor Minerva…"

"They are mad at each other for some reason." Krum nodded. "I just don't know why."

"Viktor, how can you be so blind not to realise that they fancy each other?" she smirked.

"But I though they hated each other." Viktor shrugged. *And why are you so blind, Herm-own-ninny, not to realise that I fancy… that I _love_ you?* he added in thought.

"And what about the Yule-ball, Viktor?" she asked. "Which day is it, exactly? I'm not familiar with the customs of the Orthodox Church. So, when do you celebrate Christmas?"

"On the 7th January." Krum replied. "You come back from Great Britain on the fourth of January, right? Then you'll have only three days to prepare for the ball." he leaned closer to her: "Buy something cute in Diagon Alley. Something resembling your dress from the former Yule-ball. You looked enchanting in those periwinkle-blue robes, Herm-own-ninny."

"Thanks, Viktor." she flushed a bit. "I have a new dress looking very similar to that one… the same colour and everything. I'm going to wear it at Christmas for the very first time."

"Then… this will go well with it." Viktor placed a small box into Hermione's palm.

"What's this?" she asked.

"My Christmas present to you, Herm-own-ninny."

* * * * *

Harry was just about to slip out of his slippers and into the bed, when there was a knock on the door.

He opened it to see Mileta Krum standing there with downcast eyes.

"Er, hello, Harry." she mumbled.

"Hello, Mileta. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" Harry crossed his arms. "It's eleven o' clock, if you haven't noticed."

"I… I just… may I come in?" she asked with a pleading stare.

"That's not exactly a good idea." Harry shook his head. "What's this?" he perked up his ears, hearing someone approaching, singing.

"Aberforth!" she breathed.

"Come on, then!" he gripped her arm and pulled her into his room, just in time before Dumbledore turned into their corridor. They heard the door of the old man's room slam shut.

"He almost caught a glimpse of you!" Harry said irritably. "What do you think he'd have thought, seeing you standing in front of my door at such a late hour? What would he have thought of me? He'd have thought that I had a relationship with you!"

"Would it be _that _terrible?" she asked.

"Yes!" he retorted. "I'm an honourable man, you know. I have a wife and children…"

"…and you're not the type _seducing your friend's little sister_, right? That's what you wanted to say?" she asked with a grimace.

Harry turned ruby-red. "Listen, Mileta, please, stop following me around. You're a very nice girl, but I'll never be in love with you, so you are just wasting your time. I'm sure there are other guys who'd like you… for example Dennis."

"Dennis?" she grunted. "What makes you think I could ever like Dennis?"

"Well… I saw you embracing him after the first task, and I kind of thought…"

"You shouldn't have. I was simply grateful to him. It was not love. _This is_." with that she gripped Harry's face and kissed him fervently. For a couple of seconds Harry tried to push her back, but she held him in a vice-like grip, her lips seductively moving on his, her tongue finding its way into his mouth… after the first seconds of futile resistance, Harry seemed to have forgotten about his decision to reject her… he let her hands roam over his back, her lips descend onto his neck… He brought her lips up to his again, and kissed her with all the past ten months' suppressed desire, his hands slipping under her robes until she moaned his name with a hoarse, so un-ginny-like voice. That was when Harry opened his eyes and pushed away her hands.

"Harry… why have you stopped?" she asked, making a step in his direction. He retreated, running his fingers through his hair in nervousness. His eyes wandered down to his pyjama trousers. "Oh, shit!" he spat and pulled his dressing gown together to conceal the obvious bulge.

"Harry…?" she whispered.

"I… I'm sorry, Mileta." he looked away, adjusting his glasses. "I have no idea what got into me… I… for a moment I thought… I thought you were Ginny…"

"Ginny?" Mileta uttered the word with disgust. "Your wife?"

"Yes. My wife." he nodded, turning his back on her, so that she didn't see him pointing his wand at his loin, whispering _deminuo!_

"Your wife…" the girl took another step in his direction, "your wife, who has been refusing to sleep with your for ages…"

"What makes you think that?" he turned back, frowning.

"I happened to overhear a discussion between Hermione and Aberforth. She told him that you were… _deprived_. I thought you needed someone… someone who would give you what your wife doesn't." she reached out to touch his face, but he recoiled.

"I don't need anyone." he said sternly.

"Just one minute ago you _seemed to_ _need _someone." she said with a mellifluous voice. "To need _me_…" she stepped to him, placing her hands on his chest, gently caressing him. "You need me, Harry… and I'm ready to give you anything."

"Just what I need! A seventeen – no, just sixteen year old chick who happens to have an over-protective brother! Can you imagine what Viktor would say if he got wind that I shagged you?"

She shrugged. "He wouldn't need to know."

"What if you got pregnant?" Harry reasoned.

"I know spells and potions…"

"…that in some cases refuse to work." he pointed out. "And what about losing your virginity, huh? People would get to know… for example a future boyfriend or husband of yours. Is that what you want?"

Mileta waved nonchalantly. "Losing my virginity? Hah! Haven't you heard of the spell _reparo_?"

"_Reparo_?" Harry blinked. "Heavens, Mileta, I can't believe I'm here having such a conversation with you! Get out of my room and let me sleep!"

"All right!" she spat. "But don't expect me to console you when you come back from England after a disappointing, sex-free Christmas with your sweet little wife!"

"Expect you to console me?" he laughed. "Ridiculous."

"_You_ are ridiculous." she snapped, turning her back on him, heading for the door. At the door she turned back. "Anyway, I just wanted to come and apologise for that little deception and I wanted to wish you a merry Christmas. But I'm not apologising anymore – after what you have done to me!" before she slammed the door shut, she added: "Have a terrible Christmas!"

Harry could have sworn that the whole castle heard their quarrel and already dreaded the morning when he had to face Hermione - or rather - Viktor Krum. Who knows what Mileta could be telling her brother now? What if she managed to feed Viktor a lie that he, Harry, had actually wanted to rape her? She was up to anything, after all... *She would make a perfect Slytherin.* Harry thought and pulled the bed-covers over his head.

Harry couldn't fall asleep all night, still it wasn't him who looked the worst the next morning: it was Aberforth.

"Are you all right?" Harry asked the old man as they walked down the corridor to the great hall.

"Right?" Aberforth sniffed with red nose and blood-shot eyes. "I'm feeling terrible, my boy."

"But… last night… you were singing. I thought you were okay." Harry said.

"Singing? Er, must have drunk too much." Dumbledore shrugged. 

"But why did you drink that much?"

"Had to. I needed to forget." the old man was on the verge of tears.

"Forget? What?"

"Snow White! I took him back to Tibet yesterday evening!" Aberforth said, tears welling up in his eyes. Harry was strongly reminded of Hagrid mourning over the loss of Norbert.

"Hey, it's all right. He's better off in his homeland, isn't he?" the young man patted Dumbledore's back.

"But… he'll be so lonely without me!" Aberforth sniffed. "We used to play a lot, and now he has no one to play with!"

Harry rolled his eyes. He was sure that it was Aberforth who needed the yeti and not the other way around. "Hey, cheer up, it's almost Christmas!"

"Christmas? Oh, yeah." the old man nodded. "Shame that Durmstrang doesn't celebrate it before seventh January. At least I hope Minerva will like my present…"

"You really like her, don't you?" Harry grinned.

"Yeah." Aberforth nodded.

"Then stop crying, if you don't want her see you like that." Harry pointed at a figure approaching them.

"Oh, Minerva!" Dumbledore whispered, straightening his back.

"Are you all right, Mr. Dumbledore?" McGonagall asked, seeing the tears in the old man's eyes.

"Sure, dear Ms McGonagall. Just an insect… it flew into my eyes."

"Into both of them?" she raised an eyebrow, turning to Harry. "I need to give you Mr. Krum's regards – he had to leave for a day for Moscow. Ministry of Magic business. He wishes you a very merry Christmas, Mr. Potter."

Harry felt that a great weight was off his mind. Mileta surely hadn't told anything to her brother. "Well, that's nice of him. Pity that I couldn't say good-bye to him. I'd like to wish you also a very merry Christmas, professor McGonagall, and you two, Aberforth."

"Happy Christmas, Mr. Potter." Minerva gave him a smile. "Give my regards to Ginny."

"I will."

"Harry!" Hermione ran up to him. "Are you ready with your packing?"

"Of course. When are we going?"

"In an hour." Hermione replied, beaming. "Viktor got us a portkey to Diagon Alley. Get your stuff ready and be in the entrance hall in forty minutes! We are going home!"

Harry followed her with his eyes as she raced down the corridor to get her things. "Yeah." he swallowed the lump in his throat. "We are going home."

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A/N2: Latin explanation: deminuo = reduce (a swelling)

Before my thorough friend, X_Tow_Naga could ask: the portkey Viktor got for them is a special one – wizards and witches who don't live and teach at Durmstrang cannot turn objects into portkeys to transport them to Durmstrang. Why? Because I decided so. The World Cup was a public place, so you could easily get portkeyed there, but Durmstrang isn't. 

Why can they use the floo network, then? – you might ask. Its use is also restricted – you'll get to know it later.

And now: review, please!


	16. Come home for Christmas

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A/N: thanks for your reviews, they mean a lot to me. It was nice to see how many of you learnt: 'kiváló fejezet!' Thank you :)

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Crazycutee831: No, we don't get the show Charmed. What is it about? I'm not telling anything about the sequel – especially not the title, because I don't have one yet. I always give titles to my fics when they are almost ready, because at the beginning I don't know what kind of title would suit the story. It turns out later, as the story evolves. 

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LilGinny: you asked what kinds of holidays we have in Hungary. Well, we celebrate New Year, Easter, Whitsun, we have a St. Nicholas' Day (kind of Santa Claus Day) on 6th December and of course we celebrate Christmas- Besides that we have a couple of national holidays when we remember the revolutions of 1848 and 1956. On 20th August we remember our first king, St. Stephen – I love that holiday, because there's firework every year on that day. We don't have Halloween and Thanksgiving and things like that. The temperature nowadays is okay: +20 Celsius degrees. Finally I'm not cold! :))

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Nefertiri: I'm not telling about the next task yet. Harry will spend 4 chapters at home.

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PadmeSkywalker: I'm going to ask you one Latin phrase before I upload chapter 24, because that will be an important one, but I'm not telling what it is yet, because that single phrase would reveal too much. Remind me to ask you when I'm around chapter 22!

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Gwen Fifortry: thanks for the Philosopher's stone in many languages!

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Rose: better than the last? I'm happy :)) No, I don't speak Latin, I got everything from a dictionary (and I got them with wrong Grammar, I know, but it doesn't really matter:) All I know in Latin is 'in vino veritas' and 'alea yachta est'. Oh, I've just learned a new one from our ethics teacher: 'homo homini lupus est'. I was so happy when I understood 'lupus' at once! (you know, from Lupin!:)) 

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Sean Mulligan: no, Harry won't outlive Daniel – at least I don't think so.

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X_Tow_Naga: I just wanted them to use a portkey for a change, that's all. I love portkeys, they're cool, better than floo, IMHO. Anyway, I thought it'd look stupid if Harry and Hermione came out of the fireplace of The Dancing Bear (the only fireplace in Russia that has connection to Durmstrang) carrying all their packages. You know Harry's knack for falling whenever he goes by floo – he'd scatter the luggage. Viktor gave only one portkey to Harry and Herm – a 'privilege' portkey, with which they can directly go back to the school at the end of the holidays, but Hagrid wouldn't get a portkey from Vicky, because he has no business at Durmstrang and Krum wouldn't let him go there just to frolick with Maxime. Those who don't have any business at Durmstrang, aren't welcomed there. Durmstrang is a rather unfriendly place, as you know. Hagrid cannot go there by floo, either – it will be explained in chapter 26 (as I have mentioned for a dozen times, I guess.)

Thanks for the compliment. Dennis isn't a bridge constructor, either. I think that he, being a sixth year student, isn't supposed to be able to conjure whole bridges – is he? Why not 'accio Yeti'? Hahaha, that would look gross: a yeti flying down from the hill just like that… the pure mental image of that is hilarious! How did Harry and Krum find the yeti? Well, they KNEW that it was at the foot of the Devil's Slope, stunned. Why don't Russian characters have accents? Because I don't know how to write Russian accent – should I have made them speak like 'Vot is it?' all the time? That drives one crazy. However, I find the French accent cute. How did Aberforth get booze? Hey, he's a wizard. Wizards can conjure stuff if they want (not bridges, but drinks they surely can), remember McGonagall conjuring dinner for Harry and Ron when they went to Hogwarts in the Ford Anglia and missed dinner. Aberforth could also have some 'hidden' flasks of Quality Wizard Vodka from the wizarding St. Petersburg in his room, who knows? :)) No, the Dursleys will be in next chapter, not this one. Really, you AREN'T a huge HP fan and still read fanfiction??? I'm surprised to hear that. 

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Almah: Mileta won't die, sorry.

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BlueIce: you'll see Albus in chapter 18, and the Dumbledore bros will meet in the final chapter (a long way to go until then!) Sorry, but not much of Abu.

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Waldomier: you asked how old the kids were now. Lily is one and a half year old, Daniel is a half year old.

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VVhit2005: Harry and Hermione could leave the Durmstrang grounds in only three ways:

walk far away from the castle to apparte (that would be too much with their luggage) 

on Aberforth's sledge (I didn't want to use the reindeers here)

by floo to The Dancing Bear (my reasons for not choosing this way are written in my answer to X_Tow_Naga.)

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Mage: no, Mileta's not a f*cking bad guy. She's bad, but not f*cking bad.

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The Face of Evil: where does he do it alone? Well… his room at Durmstrang? :))

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J-Kid: hahaha! I guess the Romanians must have been very mad about that! I know how mad we, Hungarian are when people say Bucharest instead of Budapest! It must work the same way for the Romanians as well.

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Black Ice: Lily won't tell anything obscene here. James… James… in my third story I'll call someone James, but it won't be a son of Harry's.

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LupinsLover: yes, you'll see Remus! I like him very much. IMHO it'd be great if Ewan McGregor played him! Yes, I do have tickets for AotC, I bought tickets for myself and my friends – imagine, one of my friends told me that since the day I gave her the ticket, she's been pulling it out of her wallet every day just to *look* at it! She's such a huge SW fan!

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blaubaerin: I do think that Dennis would call the Muggles Muggles – Hermione also says sometimes that her parents are Muggles. The Sound of Music is really sappy, but it's worth watching it, because its music is soooooo great! There aren't too many drindles and lederhosen in there. Oh, so l'ecole des sorciers means school of wizards? Strange, I have a CD with the trailer of the HP movie in lots of languages, and when I watched it in French (just for fun), there was the text: l'ecole des sorciers (while in every other languages the text was the Philosopher's stone, so I thought it must mean the same. I should study French… but no, I'm going to study Spanish.) No, I don't know Heino, is he a German singer? "You two, Aberforth…" LOL, I didn't notice that! :)) No, we don't have a May dance, but we celebrate the first of May – you know, it's kind of a remainder of the socialist era: before 'die Wende' (I don't know the English word for that), Hungary used to celebrate 1st May as the holiday of work with balloons and festivals (I was a very small child then, I don't really remember). Now we don't have festivals anymore, but we still have a day off and go for a trip into the nature or just stay at home and relax.

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Cassandra Anthemyst: should I? :)))

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Elfangor19: no, you haven't reviewed yet, but I'm glad that you did now.

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Mikey: right? No :)

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Moony Lover: I love The sound of music! Sooooo cute! And captain von Trepp is so hot!

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Tessa: no, I'm not going to write about the squib things as Rita at all. I'll be rather nasty to the other players of the RPG, just as nasty as Rita usually is :) 

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hermioneqc: sorry, I don't know much of ice hockey.

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diana levy: no, Dan being a squib has nothing to do with the orb. Its reason will be revealed in next chapter (finally!)

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thebiggesthpfan: maybe Durmstrang should be in Bulgaria, but Rowling writes that it is very far in the NORTH, and it's VERY COLD there, so I put it into Russia, because Bulgaria is in the SOUTH, and NOT COLD. Anyway, Karkaroff is rather Russian than Bulgarian, IMHO.

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Lavendar Brown: no, Harry won't walk in on anyone. And Mileta will survive this story, sorry :)

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Kristen Michelle: thank you.

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Toby Haine: you've just become an SW fan??? And because of EP1???? Wow! I don't think I would have become an SW fan, had I only seen EP1, because it's not as good as the original trilogy. Have you seen episodes 4-6? My favourite is EP5, The Empire Strikes Back. I also can't wait for Attack of the Clones. According to the greatest film magazine of Europe it is the best SW film so far – even better than the original trilogy. You really think my fic is exciting? That means a lot to me, because people said (for chapters 8-11) that it was downright boring. I'm happy that you don't find it dull.

TO THOSE WHOSE REVIEWS I HAVEN'T ANSWERED: I'M GRATEFUL TO ALL OF YOU FOR REVIEWING, BUT YOU MUST HAVE ASKED SOMETHING THAT I DIDN'T WANT TO ANSWER YET, SO I DIDN'T. FORGIVE ME PLEASE, I JUST DON'T WANT TO SPOIL IT FOR YOU.

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Chapter 16

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Come home for Christmas

A loud bang came from the large living room of Black Manor. 

"What was that, Sirius?" Ginny yelled down from upstairs.

"Just fixing the Christmas tree!" the man shouted back.

"Fixing it or setting fire to it?"

"Dunno. We'll see!" Sirius laughed, pointing his wand at the pine-tree – his wand was emitting golden bulbs and white, sparkling, snow-flake-shaped ornaments. "There. It looks cool." with a last flick he placed a fluorescent star onto the top of the tree.

"Beautiful." Ginny smiled as she walked down the stairs, holding Lily's hand. The little girl tore her hand out of her mother's and ran up to the Christmas tree that was glittering gold and silver and practically all colours of the rainbow… the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

"Tee, tee!" she exclaimed, pointing at the tree, jumping excitedly.

"Not bad, huh, kid?" Sirius grinned. "Uncle Siri did a good job, eh? Well done, Siri, well done." he patted his own shoulder, giving Lily a wink. "When is Ron arriving?" he turned to Ginny.

"In an hour I suppose. But that's not what I'm interested in… what I'm interested in is when _Harry_ is arriving."

"'Arry?" the little girl asked.

"Yes dear. Your daddy." her mother replied with a radiant smile. "He's coming home at last."

The little girl ran up to the fireplace to examine the stockings hanging from it.

"I'm not sure she remembers Harry at all." Sirius pointed out. "He's been away for two months. For an eighteen-months-old child it is hard to remember someone who they haven't seen for months."

Ginny pursed her lips. "Could be. But she'll remember again… Harry is going to stay for more than a week, right?"

"Exactly. I wonder what he'll say when he gets to know the news."

"The news? About…" Ginny asked with a smirk. "He'll be delighted, I'm sure."

With a pop, Ron apparated next to them. "Hi, everyone!"

"Hullo, Ron."

"Is Hermione here yet?" he asked.

"Nope. But they might arrive anytime now." Sirius replied. "A bit excited to _see_ her, Ron?"

"To _see_ her?" Ron laughed. "I have more interesting plans than just _seeing_ her. Um, where can I dump my packages?"

"Put them there, next to the others." Ginny pointed at the packages lying under the Christmas tree.

Ron put his presents under the tree, then turned to his niece. "Hello there, Lil. Look, what uncle Ron's brought you!" he pulled a Honeydukes chocolate bar (suitable for children over one year) out of his pocket to hand it to Lily, who didn't even cast a glance at it – she practically pushed Ron aside and started running in the door's direction, yelling: "'Arry!"

Ginny, Sirius and Ron turned around to see two figures standing at the other end of the huge room. One of them crouched down and closed the little girl into his arms.

"My sweet little angel!" he held her close, as though not wanting to release her. "Daddy's sweet princess! You still remember me?"

Lily nodded, putting her little arms around Harry's neck. "Give Daddy a kiss, princess!" Lily stuck her lips onto Harry's cheek with a smacking noise. "Thank you, angel." he smiled, standing up, holding her. 

"Hello, Harry." Ginny said with a small smile, stepping to him.

"Gin..." he leaned forward to peck her on the cheek, which made her furrow her brow. "A second." he put down his daughter, then reached out with both his hands and pulled her into a long, passionate kiss.

"That's more like it." she sighed happily as he released her. "Welcome home, dear."

"That was a really nice welcoming, sweetheart." he grinned, and gave her another lingering kiss.

"Ehm…" someone cleared his throat.

"Oh, hello, Sirius." Harry looked up, blushing.

"I thought you'd never notice me." Sirius smirked, then, with a sudden move, he pulled Harry into a firm hug. "Good to see ya again."

"Good to see you, too. I hope you haven't taught my daughter more bad words."

"Her? No. Now I'm teaching Dannie." he winked at his godson.

"Really, where's he?" Harry asked.

"Up in his room, sleeping." Ginny replied.

"But he's all right, isn't he?"

"'Course he is. Strong little tyke, I tell you." Sirius replied. "Resembles his father a lot."

Harry's mouth tucked into a grin, then he turned to his best friend. "Hi, Ron."

"Huh?" Ron opened his eyes and cast a side-ways glance at Harry, never releasing Hermione's lips. They had been snogging for the last three or four minutes. Eventually Hermione was the one to end the kiss, gently pushing her husband away.

"Oh, hi, Harry." Ron turned red, shaking his best friend's outstretched hand. "Nice to see ya in one piece… and not frozen. You were in luck with that pneumonia, you know."

"Pneumonia?" Ginny raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about, Ron?"

"Ugh, I never knew you hadn't been told, sis." Ron shrugged.

Seeing Ginny's confused expression, Harry put an arm around her. "I'll tell you later, okay? Now I'd like to see my son."

* * * * *

Little Daniel Potter was still asleep as his father walked up to his crib, but he might have heard the steps or the door creak, because he opened his eyes and flashed Harry with a chocolate-brown stare. "Hello, little one." Harry reached out for his son, who instinctively gripped his index finger. "Ooooh, how strong you are!" Harry laughed as Dannie kept tugging at his finger. "A very tough young man, indeed." he gently pulled his finger out of Dan's grip and scooped up the baby. "Oh my, how big you've grown! You are getting heavy, young man… or is that just the weight of a full nappy, huh? I think you need a change, sonny."

"Leave it to me." Ginny, who had followed him into the room, said.

"Let me do it." her husband smiled at her. "I haven't changed nappies for two months! I've been missing it… and of course I've missed feeding and bathing him as well… and telling him bed-time stories…"

"As you wish." she said with an understanding smile, watching as Harry removed Daniel's nappy. "I'm going to send up Dinky with Dan's dinner so that you can feed him, okay?"

"Thanks." he nodded, reaching out for the baby powder.

"The pleasures of parenthood, huh?" she leant to the door-post, examining the sight: her husband tending their little son. It was an endearing sight. "I'm going to leave you alone with him… be nice to your dad, Dan! I'll be in the living room with the others, dear." she told Harry and left the room.

Harry watched her leave, letting out a longing sigh at the sight of her swaying hips. "Your mother's a wonderful woman, d'ya know that, Dan? All right, let's see the clean nappy!"

* * * * *

Since it took him long to feed and lull Daniel into sleep, it was past eight o' clock when Harry joined the others. He also placed his presents under the tree, then lifted Lily from an armchair, sat down and pulled her into his lap. She was already sleepy and soon dropped off, her red head propped against her daddy's chest. Harry looked down at her, and felt something warm engulf his whole being – it was so good to be with his family again, to hold and kiss them… to have his little daughter sleeping in his lap, one small hand gripping the hem of his robes… 

Peace. That was what he felt. His glance met that of Ginny, whose stare radiated the same peace and warmth. Maybe… maybe everything was going to be okay, after all. Maybe all his fears had been unfounded. Maybe there was still a chance that his relationship with his wife would take a turn for the better.

*Have faith, Harry, it's Christmas, after all… the holiday of love and hope… and I _need_ to hope that our love with Ginny can be saved. I mustn't give up hope…* he told himself.

"Harry!"

"Huh?" Harry looked up. "Sorry, I was a bit distracted."

"I thought you were more interested in the family matters." Ron gave him a reproachful stare.

"Sorry." Harry apologised. "What exactly were you saying?"

"I was saying that Percy got engaged to Penelope. They are going to get married on the first of January."

"Oh, that's cool. They must be very happy, then."

"Yeah, they are. But not the rest of the family." Ron made a wry face. "You know Percy: if he starts fussing about something, you cannot hear anything else from him, and now he's been driving us all mad with this wedding-thing for weeks. 'Course the whole family is coming on the 26th, and Percy's going to bring Penelope, so be prepared for the most boring Boxing Day you've ever had."

"I'm not going to ask him about the wedding, then." Harry shrugged. "His detailed descriptions about cauldron-thickness were enough."

"Trust me he can talk about his wedding in a much more boring way." Ron replied. "Compared to that, his cauldron-thickness reports were highly enjoyable." 

"So…" a thoughtful expression fell over Harry's face, "…Percy getting married means that he hasn't had his er, _problem_ since last Christmas, has he?"

"No." Ron laughed, leaning closer to Harry. "_Unfortunately_. We were enjoying teasing him about that."

"I bet you were." Harry grinned back. 

"Did you realise at all," Ginny interjected, "that some superstitions have proven themselves true?" everyone gave her a confused look. "I mean… when I threw my bouquet, it was Penny who caught it. And now she's going to get married to Perce."

"Really." Hermione nodded. "My bouquet was caught by McGonagall, though…" her glance met Harry's, and they burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Sirius asked.

"McGonagall… catching Herm's bouquet…" Harry chuckled. "You're right, Gin, this superstition might be right…"

"Huh?" Ron raised an eyebrow. "Wha'd'ya mean?"

"Minerva," Hermione began, "has an _admirer."_

"A what?" Sirius gaped. "That old spinster… who?"

"Dumbledore." Harry smirked.

"What? The headmaster?" Ron grimaced. "I thought he fancied Arabella Figg!"

"Not that Dumbledore, Ron." Hermione replied. "His brother, Aberforth."

"Oh, yeah, once he mentioned a brother..." Ron said. "What is he like?"

"Funny man." Harry replied. "A bit younger than Albus, but just as um, crazy as he is."

"Crazier." Hermione voiced her opinion.

"Well, maybe a bit. But he's an excellent singer and a great friend of animals. He befriended a yeti and treated him like Hagrid treated Norbert or the skrewts."

"Then he's really crazy." Ron remarked.

Suddenly there was a tap, tap on the window. They all turned to see Hedwig hovering in front of the window-pane.

"Would you open it, Sirius?" Harry pointed at his daughter sleeping in his arms. "I don't want to wake her."

Sirius opened the window, and Hedwig soared in, directly onto the armrest of Harry's chair. "Hello, Hedwig." Harry reached out with his free hand to tap his owl's head. "How are you? I hope nothing bad happened to you due to my crazy old godfather." he blinked at Sirius, who tried to look as innocent as one could. "So, nothing amiss with you, right?"

Hedwig nipped his fingers reassuringly, then hooted in a funny way – Harry had never heard her hoot that way before. As soon as she finished hooting, the noise of wings could be heard, and some other owls flew into the room, all perching themselves on Harry's armchair. Harry looked around, surprised too see that all owls were snowy, and slightly smaller than his Hedwig. Apart from that, they all looked the spitting image of her.

"Hedwig…" Harry whispered, as understanding downed on him. "Hedwig… are these… your _babies?"_

Hedwig nodded, nipping his finger again.

"One, two, three, four, five… six." Harry counted them. "Six little Hedwigs! This is… cool! You're a mommy, Hedwig! I can't believe! But… where's the father?" he asked with a frown.

"Ah, the father…" Sirius waved. "You know them… just like men, you know… that Henry just, um… knocked her up, then left."

"Bloody bastard!" Harry spat. "I hope you weren't too sad, Hedwig."

The mother owl shook her head, giving all her children a loving look.

"I understand. You don't mind that he left, because now you have your kids to love instead." Harry said. "And what are their names?"

"That will be your task, Harry." Ginny said. "We decided to wait for you so that you could name them. You are their _grandpa_, after all."

Harry grinned. "All right. How many of them are males, and how many are females?"

"Three and three." Sirius replied. "At least we think so."

"All right, then. Let's see…" Harry mused. "What about… Helena… Hannah and Helga for the females, and Herold, um, Hector and… Hubert for the males." he turned to Hedwig, who hooted her agreement. "You like them? All right. Your kids are named, then, _Mommy_."

Hedwig hooted once again, then took wing and flew out of the window. Helena, Hannah, Helga, Herold, Hector and Hubert followed her.

"What a nice little family." Harry looked after them, then his stare wandered back to Lily. "I guess you should already be in bed, princess." he slowly stood up, careful not to wake her. "I'm taking her upstairs." he stifled a yawn. "Um, I guess it's not only her who needs some sleep. Good night Ron, Hermione, Sirius."

"'night, Harry." they all echoed.

"What about us going up as well?" Ron suggested, taking his wife's hand.

"Excellent idea." she said with a smile.

"I think you also should get into bed." Sirius told Ginny after the Weasleys departed.

"Yeah. I'm going to _go to bed_." she smirked back at him and headed upstairs.

"Have a nice night, kids." Sirius whispered.

* * * * *

After Harry had tucked Lily in, he entered their bedroom to see Ginny standing in there, wearing a dressing-gown. Her long, fiery red hair fell down to her waist, and her emerald eyes sparkled in the moonlight that poured into the room. She was as pretty as a picture.

"Um, Gin…" Harry took a step in her direction, uncertain about her reaction. "Er… do you want me to sleep elsewhere or…" he couldn't finish his sentence, because she crossed the room in three quick steps and silenced him with a kiss.

"I think this gives you the answer." she whispered, her breath warm on his cheek. 

"A…are you sure?" he asked. "Aren't you afraid…?"

"I am… but we cannot let fear stand between us… we cannot let it ruin our marriage, can we?"

Harry's eyes widened in surprise. "Ginny…"

"Sssh! Let me speak." she put a finger on his lips. "I've thought this over, Harry. I don't know why neither the spell, nor the potion worked last time… I don't know how I got pregnant in spite of all precautions… maybe it was the will of fate. Perhaps it wanted to test us. To see whether our love was strong enough to bear all this… and _it is_ strong enough, Harry. No matter, what happened or what may happen in the future, I will always love you, and I don't care if our future babies aren't magic. We'll still love them. So… I say it's no worth refraining from expressing our love to each other. _Express it, Harry._ Show me how much you love me."

"Oh, Ginny." he pulled her into a firm embrace, catching her lips with his, clinging to them as though he would die if he let them go. "What was this?" he suddenly released her, having heard some funny, rustling noise. It reminded him of the noise of a falling gown – but Ginny was still wearing hers.

"There!" Ginny pointed at an envelope that had been slipped under the door. Harry picked it up. There was neither sender nor addressee on it. There were only three words written on it in a rather familiar hand: _use it well_

"What is it?" Ginny wondered.

"No idea." Harry shrugged. "Let's see." he opened the letter, and pulled out a small, flat package. "Hermione, Hermione, you think of everything…" he muttered, looking into the envelope that contained a dozen of such small packages.

"What's this?" Ginny inquired.

"This… um, you know," Harry felt himself turning red, "the greatest Muggle invention ever... funny that it hasn't occurred to me earlier… it's so damn simple and I never thought of it! Of course Snape said even this wasn't 100% safe, but he's too much of a wizard to rely on Muggle things…"

"But what is this? What does it do?" she asked.

"It allows us to make love without worrying, dear… at least I hope so."

She looked at the small package, confused. "How does it work?"

"You really weren't paying attention at Hermione's sex education class, were you?" Harry chuckled.

"No, I admit it." she grinned. "I was reading _Witch Weekly_ under the desk. So, how does it work?"

He gave her a kinky smile. "Let me show you."

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A/N2: well, well, Harry has become too much of a wizard to forget about the good old Muggle ways :)) Next chappie: Christmas, fluff, Dursleys, and a revelation. Review!


	17. I wish every day could be like Christmas

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A/N: Congrats to CaittyLin on being the 1000th reviewer! Oh, I'm going to have a terrible exam tomorrow, I'm so nervous! Wish me 'May the Force be with you!', please!

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Super saya-Jin Gotan: no, not at all.

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bucky: what does the phrase 'having the poor kid on a bed of nails' mean? I tried to look it up in a dictionary, but couldn't find it.

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X_Tow_Naga: really? Is this the only HP fic you read? My, I'm honoured! :)) I didn't exactly understand your question about 'why wouldn't Hogwarts have the same charm' – you asked something about Moody and the portkey… did you mean that they shouldn't be able to use a portkey at Durmstrang? I don't know, but I think they should be able to, since you could use it at Hogwarts as well (see Moody). Sorry if I didn't answer your question, but I didn't understand it. I've been contemplating to make Harry want to stay for a longer time, but in chapter 19 you'll see why he won't stay, after all. No, the news that would make Harry happy was not Percy's wedding, but Hedwig's children. I'm sure that Harry doesn't like changing diapers, but he missed his kids so much that he was glad to do it. Anyway, who knows… there could be a _'Changeus Diaperus' Charm_ that allows you to change it without getting your hands dirty :) No, Dannie isn't speaking yet, Sirius was just joking. Yes, H and G resort to condoms now, since they don't trust the potions and charms anymore. Condoms are safer. A bit of Abu (a very little bit of him) in this chapter – but I'm planning to give him much bigger role in the sequel! Why does Aberforth live in Durmstrang? Hm, I guess he must have a house in Russia, but since he lives alone, he's bored. He has no family, only a couple of friends, and even those friends live at Durmstrang. So, for the duration of the tournament he stays there. And of course there's Minerva as well and he doesn't want to leave her alone ;-)

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Crazycutee831: Harry is leaving in chapter 19.

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Whit2005: 'hello, how are you?' in Hungarian is 'szia, hogy vagy?'

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One-Winged Butterfly: there will be a bit about Lily at Hogwarts in the sequel, but the central figure won't be Lily. What is VH? No, I'm surely not the Rita Skeeter there, because I'm only playing Rita at a Hungarian net-forum.

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princesswitch: in ch. 35.

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jeanine23Dr: thanks, I'll read that fic. 

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Cassandra Anthemyst: I have seen Mighty Joe Young, but don't remember it much. All I remember is that there was a huge gorilla and a blonde chick. I don't even remember its outcome. Really, what happened to the gorilla? Was he taken back to Africa, or what?

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Rebecca Elizabeth Metz: you say Harry's a sex-maniac? I say he's just a healthy 19-year-old guy who hasn't made love to his wife for about 9 months. So it's rather understandable that he desires her, isn't it? Did you expect him to go home and start building a sand-castle with Ginny, as if they were 5-year-olds? Anyway, if you think that this story is too much about sex, then stop reading it RIGHT NOW, because in the next chapters Harry will shamelessly sleep with his wife! *bad, bad Harry, how dare he???* You wrote you were very good in biology. So am I, and I need to remind you that you mixed up science with magic. Of course magic can turn Ginny's eyes green, but it doesn't need to change her DNA as well. And, even if it would, Dan wouldn't necessarily have green eyes, since his grandpa, James Potter had brown eyes. As you know, children can inherit stuff not only from their parents, but from their grandparents and great-grandparents as well. Lastly, I DO admit that I'm wrong in many cases, but in the case of Daniel's eye-colour I wasn't wrong.

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notebook girl: the RPG is a Hungarian one at a Hungarian Internet-forum.

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PepsiAngel: yes, you'll see Percy's wedding in next chapter.

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Hayley Mills: first of all: did you get your nickname from the actress in Parent trap? I love that movie, seen it at least 10 times! What do Hungarians do for fun? Just the same as everyone else: watch TV, go for a trip, swim, play soccer, go to the theatre, etc. You asked a couple of Hungarian phrases, so here we go: 'szia, hogy vagy?' = 'hi, how are you?', 'szép idõnk van' = 'we are having a nice weather', 'jó reggelt!' = 'good morning!', 'jó estét!' = 'good evening!'. If you want more, write me and tell me what you want me to write in Hungarian :)

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Mage: David as the bad guy? Hehe, nooooo…

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Coolio: the story's finished, but I'm still correction and re-writing it.

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Almah: huh? "." What does this mean?

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denverhockeygirl: thanks a lot :))

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Bienfoy: you'll find out everything about Tatyana in time.

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romina: 39.

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Toby Haine: thank you, Toby, I'm glad you like it. I can't wait to read more of Eternal Labyrinth, so keep writing, my friend!

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Faunix: yes, I'm going to write a sequel (already started it, but I don't have much time, I'm going to write it during the summer.)

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Waldomier: yes, Dudley did tell them. There will be a flashback in this chapter, showing the outcome of the 'Davie is a wizard' conversation between Dudley and his parents.

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Moony Lover: I also imagined Snow White a bit like Chewbacca, just with white fur :)) You'll get to know why the potions and charms didn't work for them… let's see… in chapter… 35. (Yes, Harry is very good in bed, but not _that_ good, LOL). Hedwig's babies will stay alive :) Draco's doing well, thanks. You'll see him in about 10 chapters (and you'll see a LOT of him after then.) 

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Rab: yes, of course the gems will be used later. Yes, I did get the title of ch 12 from My fair Lady. Hagrid? He isn't even at Durmstrang! He has absolutely nothing to do with the tournament! (but if I asked him who he was rooting for, he'd say Dennis, of course.) No, no Darth Harry… LOL, I laughed so hard when I read that! :)))

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star queen: no, Lily won't have the same problem when she grows up. I guess I have seen sugarquill.net, but I think the easiest way to find good HP fics is ffnet. Even scnoogle isn't that good – you can't exactly know what the fics there are about, and I usually don't start reading a fic if I don't know its summary, genre, rating, etc. So, I have inspired you? :))

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Ginny Potter a.k.a. Nefertiri: why have you got bored of your name? I loved it! Besides, there are too many Ginny Potters on ffnet. IMHO you should have stayed Nefertiri, that's much more original :) Yes, I'm writing a third part to this story, and Lily will be 13 in it, Daniel 12.

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Arif: in chapter 3 Dudley told his parents about Davie's magic powers, but I didn't show their reaction. It will be in this chapter. Yes, I do think that a squib can have wizard children. Hm… read this chapter, it'll tell you about it. I know ice hockey, but I never watch it. It's not a popular sport in Hungary. We like soccer (not me, but the most of the Hungarian population). Viktor - a Muggle born? No way. Remember: at the end of book 4 – before the 3. task – his parents visited him at Hogwarts. I think that Muggles wouldn't go to Hogwarts (with the exception of Dudley in TGSoHH:) You are mixing up Rita Skeeter with Trelawney. Rita is the nasty journalist, Trelawney is the Divination teacher – I'm playing the nasty journalist. 

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K.C. Hunter: 39 chapters. Was the concert good? 

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BlueIce: some scenes might come close to R rating, but I PROMISE that there WILL BE NO DESCRIBED SEX! You have my word! Of course condoms aren't 100% sure, because they can… um… tear :)) Haha… your remark on the owls was very funny!

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teacherchez: Harry surely knew condoms before Hogwarts, but he became 'too much of a wizard' as the years passed, so it didn't occur to him to use it. He trusted the spells more – though he shouldn't have :) Yeah, number 999 is also nice!

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Tessa: maybe :)

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Anigurl88: yes, of course I remember you! Welcome back! 26th December is called Boxing Day in Great Britain. It is the day when people go visit their relatives and friends – I guess. I'm not British, either :)

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ladyyuy: welcome back! To your question… maybe *wink*

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Celtic Ember: no, it won't. *grin* something HAS TO work for them for a change!

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apple-pie: you are going to read more kiváló fejezet about Christmas (I hope so :)

Also thanks to: _Fire Cracker Poni, green smurf, potter_hal, Harrysgirl, Potpourri, AlexanderPheonix, Aurumlupi, alli, ILOVELINKINPARK222, Lavendar Brown, Black Ice, goldenstar555, Blondie in Disguise, Rubyjuls1722, Sherylyn, Kit Cloudkicker, The Face of Evil, PadmeSkywalker, Jen, LupinsLover, Lady Lupin, jenny, Amen, zzxm, Embyr Black, spangle*star, Aleydis, _and everyone who reviewed!

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Chapter 17

I wish every day could be like Christmas

Next morning Harry awoke with an unaccustomed warmth beside him and a pleasant memory hovering close to his thoughts - a pleasant memory of something he hadn't done for almost a year. 

He stirred and Ginny melted into his embrace, her eyes still closed, but a little smile appearing on her lips. Harry bent down to place a kiss on her forehead and she let out a chuckle.

He reached out to tickle her arms, slipping his hand lower and lower, until she couldn't hold back laughter anymore. 

"You've been awake!" he pretended to be surprised. "Little deceiver! This calls out for… a bit more tickling!" he pulled the cover over their heads and continued where he had left off, until Ginny was practically screaming with laughter.

* * * * *

"Enjoying themselves, aren't they?" Ron snuggled his nose into Hermione's neck in a room at the other end of the long corridor. The Potters' laughter could be heard throughout the Black Manor. "Shouldn't we also _enjoy_ ourselves?"

"But we've _enjoyed _ourselves for three times in the last two hours, Ron!" she pointed out.

"Heeeeeerm… just once more!" Ron pleaded.

"You are evil, you know." she gave him a reproachful look. "You know that if you look at me like that, I simply cannot resist you."

"Glad to hear! It's nice being evil." Ron grinned and pulled his wife into a long, searing kiss.

* * * * *

"Oooooh…" Harry sighed and leaned back into his pillow, totally exhausted. "If we continue on like this, I'll have to ask Hermione for more of those packages."

"Who knows, Harry? Maybe you'll get a crate of them from her for Christmas." Ginny grinned, propping her head against his chest. Suddenly Harry sat up, Ginny practically falling off him. "What happened?" she demanded with a furious frown.

"I've just realised, Gin!" he shouted with happily glinting eyes.

"What?"

"It's Christmas!" he jumped out of the bed, put on his glasses and started dressing. "Presents, Gin!"

"Oh, come off it, Harry." she rolled her eyes. Her beloved hubby could behave in such a childish way!

"C'mon, sweetheart!" he jerked the cover off her.

"Give it back! It's cold!" she squealed.

"Then start dressing and you won't feel cold!" he smirked and headed for the bathroom.

* * * * *

"Mmmm… that was really enjoyable, Herm." Ron stretched his limbs. 

"Yeah, it was." she planted a small kiss on his nose. "Happy Christmas, dear."

"Christmas?" he yelled excitedly. "Presents!"

* * * * *

Soon all residents and guests of Black Manor (Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Sirius, Lily, Daniel, Abu, Hedwig, her six children and Dinky the house-elf) were down in the living room, surrounding the Christmas tree. Daniel was lying on a sofa, rather interested in the sparkling crystals at the tree – he was the only one who wasn't a bit excited about the packages lying under the tree. All the others' eyes were fixed on the presents, until Sirius spoke up: "Why don't we open them?"

At that second everyone lunged at their presents, ripping the wrappers off them. For about ten minutes nothing else could be heard but the noise of torn wrappers and excited yells, such as: _"Wow, Harry, real wizard vodka! Always wanted to try it!"_

"Another book, Hermione?"

"Doll! 'Arry brought doll!"

"Socks from master Harry! Socks! Dinky loves socks!"

"A book by Viktor Krum? Cool! Thanks, mate!"

Hedwig got a huge package of owl treats and Abu was presented a crate of bananas.

Harry received a nice, warm jumper from Ginny, who turned out to be just as good at knitting as her mother. "It has a special heat-magic installed, dear." Ginny explained. "So that you surely won't catch a cold in Russia… oh, really, what was that thing with the pneumonia?"

"Oh, that." Harry waved. "Don't worry about that, sweetheart, it's over."

"But… how did you catch it?" Ginny worried.

"Er… fell in the lake." Harry replied. He didn't feel like explaining his pseudo-relationship with Mileta Krum.

"Fell in the lake?" she blanched. "Oh, poor dear! You sure you are alright?"

"Ginny…" he grinned at her. "Did I look _not _alright half an hour ago?"

"Oh, but of course." she turned red. "By the way, what do _I_ get from you?"

Harry pulled a little box out of his pocket. "This."

She opened the box to see two identical red gems. "They're beautiful! But… how am I supposed to wear them? In an earring, or what?"

"No." he shook his head. "Actually you are only going to wear one of them." Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Let me explain." he said, leading her into a corner, away from the others, who were still opening, or – in Sirius' case tasting - their Christmas presents.

"Wonderful." Sirius asserted, taking another draught of the Quality Wizard Vodka.

"I think it's enough for today, Sirius." Hermione said, gently pulling the bottle out of Black's hand. "You'd better not get drunk at Christmas."

"Drunk?" Sirius giggled, cross-eyed. "Naaaay."

"What are you two doing in that corner, eh?" Ron asked the Potter couple.

"Sssh, I don't want to botch the spells!" Harry replied, pointing his wand at the two rings and the two gems they had put on a nearby table. "_Compone gemma et anulum" _the gems merged with the rings. Now both Ginny and him pulled the rings onto their ring-fingers and Harry told the second spell, pointing his wand first at Ginny, then at himself:_ "Coniunge per vium magicae_… There. Ready."

"It's a wonderful present, Harry." Ginny examined the modified ring, while Harry did the same with his. "Bloody brilliant, to be exact." she pulled his face down to hers and gave him a big kiss. "From now on I'll always know whether you're all right, and if not, then the ring will help me find you and help you."

"And it works the other way around as well." Harry said. "Whatever happens, I'll be there for you with the help of the gems. I'll always be there for you, My Little Gem."

She giggled and pulled him into another kiss.

"Hey, that's enough, guys! All the four of you, stop it!" Sirius shouted, tripping over a chair. "Damn. Who put these chairs here?" he stood up, trying to steady himself.

"Stop talking that way in my daughter's presence!" Harry said and continued kissing Ginny.

"There's only one chair." Ron whispered to Hermione. 

"Double-vision." she shrugged. "_Antialcoholicus_!" she pointed his wand at Harry's godfather, whose vision cleared at once. 

"It seems that the Wizard Vodka really knocks you out easier than the Muggle one." Harry perceived, then turned back to his wife and continued snogging where they'd left off.

"Look!" little Lily tugged at Sirius' sleeve. "Doll in doll in doll!" she said, pulling her new toy, the matroshka doll apart, revealing the smaller and smaller dolls inside.

"Eurgh, that one looks like Snape!" Black pointed at the sixth doll that contained one last doll inside, slightly resembling Cornelius Fudge.

"Cool holiday, Christmas." Ron sighed happily as they sat down into the armchairs before the fireplace. 

"Yeah, wonderful." Harry nodded. "I wish every day could be like Christmas."

"…and every night like Christmas Eve." Ron added with a wink. Harry flushed from the memories of Christmas Eve.

"And, what did you get from Hermione?" Ginny turned to him.

"Not what you guessed." Harry replied.

"Really?" she pouted. "What if we run out of…?"

"Then I'll apparate into London and buy a heap of it in an apothecary." Harry said. "So don't worry about running out of the… stocks."

"Great." she giggled, scooping up little Dan, who must have been lulled into sleep by _Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer_, coming from a CD player. (In Black Manor you _could_ use Muggle devices).

"Rudolph?" Hermione made a wry face. "Reminds me of something… unpleasant."

"Me too." Harry nodded. 

"What?" Ron inquired.

"Well, you know, Aberforth has this sled…" Harry started to explain when the doorbell rang. "Are we expecting someone today? I thought your parents were going to come tomorrow."

"That's right." Ron replied.

"Oh, I've forgotten!" Ginny slapped her forehead. "I've invited Dudley and Millicent. Here. Hold him a bit." she placed Daniel into Harry's arms and went to answer the door.

Dudley entered with his wife – the latter holding a little, pudgy blonde child in her arms.

"Hello, Ginny. Thanks for the invitation." he said.

"You're welcome."

"Hi, Dudley." Harry said, feeling a bit surprised. It seemed that his cousin had grown fond of visiting him on holidays – or rather Ginny had grown fond of inviting Dudley over on holidays.

"Hi, Harry." the young Dursley stretched out his hand, which Harry shook, still holding his son in his other hand. "Dannie, isn't it?" Dudley leaned forward to have a look at the sleeping baby. "He looks exactly like you."

"Um, do you still remember what I looked like when I was put on the Dursleys' doormat?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Sure, I do. I loved kicking you around." Dudley grinned, and the cousins burst out laughing.

"Welcome, Dudley. Happy Christmas."

"Thanks. Merry Christmas to you, too." Dudley said. "It is nice to be among normal people for a change."

"_Normal_?" Harry gaped. "We are wizards, Dudley! Crazy, dangerous, abnormal folks, remember?"

"You are still better than certain Muggles." his cousin shrugged. 

Harry didn't dare believe his ears. Was this the real Dudley? "Hello, Millicent." he greeted his cousin' wife as she approached with Ginny. "Who is this lovely little boy, huh?"

"Our son." Millicent replied proudly.

"Your… son?" Harry asked. "You weren't pregnant at my birthday-party, were you? Or… can't be, this little guy looks at least one year old."

"That's correct." Dudley nodded. "He is one year old – today."

Understanding dawned on Harry. "Your brother, David, then."

"Yup. This is Davie." Dudley replied.

"But what did your wife mean by telling that he was _your_ _son_?"

"That's a long story…" Dudley sighed.

"We have loads of time!" Ron chimed in. "Hi, by the way."

Ginny led Millicent and Dudley up to the sofa. While they sat down, all the others pulled armchairs next to them, so that they wouldn't miss anything.

Ginny pulled Lily into her lap and Dinky hurried off to serve biscuits, to Dudley's great delight (despite being very slim, Dudley never lost his liking for sweets).

"So, what exactly happened, Dudley?" Harry asked.

"Um… a second." his cousin finished munching a biscuit. "So… you remember what you told us at your party? About Davie, I mean?"

"Yeah. I said he was a _wizard_." Harry replied, casting a glance at the blonde child, whose big blue eyes were fixed on the plate full of biscuits. He was a _real _Dursley. And yet he was a wizard… Harry glanced down at his own son, peacefully sleeping in his arms. His son… who was not a wizard.

"That's right." Dudley said, reaching out for a new biscuit. "A few days after your party we visited mum and dad. And you know… stuff happened… and we needed to tell them…"

"What?" Ron asked.

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"Hah! Ghosts!" Millicent smirked. "Look at your ghost!" she pointed at something, behind the Dursley couple.

Petunia and Vernon turned around to see David, toddling in their direction with whipped-cream-smeared face.

"Holy… heavens…" Petunia breathed. "He's… he's standing, Vernon! Walking!"

"And eating a cake! At the age of seven months…" Vernon whispered.

"And it's not everything." Dudley added.

"No?" his parents breathed, knowing the worst was to come.

"No. He's a wizard."

"A what?" Vernon gasped with the expression of sheer horror on his face. "How dare you assert such ridiculous things? And how dare you utter that… that 'w' word in my house?" he looked at his wife, who was leaning to the doorframe with chalk-white face, close to losing her consciousness. "How dare you do this to your poor mother? How dare you frighten her with such downright lies?" 

"He's not lying, Mr. Dursley!" Millicent said. "You son is a wizard and his name is already down at Hogwarts!"

There was a thud – Petunia had fainted. 

"This is your fault!" Vernon's voice echoed throughout the Dursley house ten minutes later.

"My fault, eh?" Petunia shouted back.

"Of course! It's your family, your damned blood-line!"

"Don't you dare blame my family!"

"A bit nervous, aren't they?" Dudley whispered to Millicent in the adjoining room.

"Sssh! I don't want to miss a word!" she silenced him, and they continued listening to the Dursley parents' row.

"But your sister!" Vernon bellowed. "She was also one of them! The Evans-blood! That damned…"

"Shut up, Vernon!" Petunia shrieked. 

"Shut up?"

"Yes! Hold your big mouth and stop insulting my family!"

"Oh, your family!" Vernon spat. "Your precious family! A bunch of freaks!"

"Freaks?" she squealed.

"Yes, freaks! Everything you told about them… the past of your family… a gang of miserable, whining squibs!"

"Squibs? Now, wait a minute!" Harry cut in, making Dudley break off his narration. "What do you mean by that?"

"Let me carry on, Harry, and you'll find out." his cousin replied.

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"Miserable? Whining?" Petunia shouted, beside herself with rage.

"Yes! Miserable, because of that great-great-great-great grandpa of yours who was born from… magic parents, but didn't have any… magic in himself!" Vernon growled with an expression of suffering every time he uttered the word magic. "And yes, whining, too, because all his descendants did was whine that they didn't have it anymore… that their ancestor was a squib and they all inherited non… non-magic genes. That was why your parents were soooooo over the moon when your sister got her letter, wasn't it? They knew that magic had come back into the family. But you… you were jealous! You wanted to be a… witch yourself, but you never was! And now… your son has it again! The abnormality! And you still say that it's not your family's fault?"

"So that's why aunt Petunia was so sour." Harry said. "She was jealous… I would have never thought that the Evans's had originally been a wizarding family… a wizarding family that turned out several squibs in a row…" he glanced down at Daniel again. The baby was awake now, looking around curiously with his huge brown eyes. "Squibs…" Harry felt a hand on his arm – Hermione was giving him a compassionate and pleading stare. Harry nodded, indicating that he wasn't about to go on rambling about squibs. Not now.

"And how came that Davie is with you now?" Sirius asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"Ah, don't even mention that. It was terrible." Millicent said, rocking the child in her pudgy arms. "Petunia and Vernon kept shouting at each other for a while, then Petunia shouted again that it was not her fault, and that she would never have carried Davie to term if she had known that he'd be a wizard. Then Vernon yelled that at least they agreed on something, and that was when Dudders and me decided to take Davie with us. We left Dud's parents a note saying that they didn't need to bother with Davie anymore, because we'd take care of him. So now he's our son." she planted a kiss on the kid's blonde head. "You're our little wizard."

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A/N2: I don't know how many of you have read The Dark Fleet trilogy by Kube McDowell (it was a rather terrible SW book-series), but I borrowed half a sentence from there. (I just didn't want to be told that I was a thief or something:)))

I guess you wanted to see Vernon and Petunia in "real life", but don't worry, you'll get to see them at the end of the story. Now at least you know the reason for Dan being a squib – and She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named doesn't need to give me lectures on genetics! :)

Next chapter will be considerably longer, I promise.

Thanks for reading, please, review!


	18. For whom the wedding bell tolls

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A/N: I took off and re-uploaded this chapter, because there was a major mistake in there in H and G's discussion about the ring.

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Chapter 18

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For whom the wedding bell tolls

"Harry?"

"Yes?"

"Are you sleeping?" 

"Yeah."

"No, you aren't." Ginny sat up, glimpsing at the lighted dial of the clock on her bedside table. "It's three in the morning."

"I really needed to know that." Harry sighed, rolling onto his back. "Why are you still awake, Gin?"

"Because I knew that you couldn't sleep." she replied, propping herself on her elbow, gazing at the silver stripes the moon painted on the bedcover. "I knew you wouldn't be able to sleep after… after what Dudley said."

"Do we have to talk about this at three a.m.?" Harry said irritably.

"If neither of us is sleeping, then why not?" she asked.

"And what exactly do you want me to talk about? My family being a bunch of squibs? My miserable bloodline that is susceptible to produce non-magic kids?" he growled, turning his back on her.

"No." she whispered, reaching out to touch his arm. "I wanted to tell you that I didn't care about the Evans genetics."

"But I do!" he sat up, his back still turned on her. "I… I do."

She knelt up, placing her hands on his shoulders. "Don't. This is not your fault. There is nothing you can do about it."

"But I simply… cannot accept it, Ginny!" he turned around to face her. "I can't accept that I cannot do anything! My family… my blood… my non-magic children…" he shook his head. "Why is life so unfair?"

"It is not unfair, darling." she propped her head against his shoulder. 

"Not unfair? Then what?" he sighed.

"Life… is just life. It has ups and downs, luck and disasters, happiness and grief… but after every storm the clouds are blown away and the sun shines again."

"What if the storm never ends?" Harry furrowed his brow.

"Maybe you should ask Professor Trelawney about that." she said, and Harry would have sworn that she was smiling, though he couldn't see her face in the darkness.

"Is she still doing the weather-forecast column?" he asked.

"Yes. And she predicted a blizzard for tonight. But look out." she pointed at the window. "Look at the moon-light. It's brighter than ever." she entwined her fingers with his, snuggling her face into his neck. "No storm tonight."

Harry pulled his wife into an embrace, gazing out into the winter wonderland bathed in moonlight. He felt as though a bit of its brightness had filtered through the darkness, into his heart. Ginny was right, after all. There was no use expecting wrong things to happen… even if they might. 

"C'mere." he leaned back into the pillows, pulling her with himself. She slipped a hand up to the buttons of his pyjama shirt. "No." he stopped her hand. "Just… just let me hold you tonight. Just hold you."

"All right." she melted into his embrace, her head on his shoulder. She heard his heart beat – very peacefully. "I love you, Harry." she whispered, though she knew from his even breathing that he had fallen asleep.

* * * * *

Next day really started as the most boring Boxing Day Harry had ever had: Ron was absolutely right about Percy's new mania: wedding.

"You know, Harry," Percy sat down next to him on the sofa, "I have been thinking."

"Thinking?" Fred raised an eyebrow. "How very strange of you."

"I have been thinking about the wedding arrangements." Percy continued as though he hadn't heard Fred. "I thought that I, as an important person at the Ministry…"

"Important?" George blinked. "You are the deputy of the deputy of the deputy of the head of the Department of Intermagical Collaboration."

"International Magical Co-operation." Percy said, straightening his back, turning to Harry again, "I wanted to say that I, being an _important_ personality, need to have a wedding appropriate for someone in my position."

"You mean you are planning to ask skrewts to be the bridesmaids, then." Fred reckoned.

"I meant," Percy said, holding his head in the air, "that I need someone… prominent to be my best man. Would you do the honour for me, Harry?"

"Me?" Harry was surprised. He and Percy had never been on good terms. "Well… all right."

"Thank you, my friend." Percy stretched out his hand in a very dignified sort of way.

"Thank so much, pal!" Fred tossed Percy's hand away, gripping Harry's right hand, shaking it. 

"Yeah, I'm in your debt now!" George shook Harry's hand, either.

"_Really_." Molly Weasley shook her head, glaring at the twins. "Are you two ever going to grow up?"

"No." they replied, grinning.

Suddenly Ginny apparated next to Harry with a radiant smile. "It really works, Harry!"

"What, honey?"

"The ring! I was up in our room and didn't exactly know which room you were in… you could be either in the living room or the entrance hall or whatever. So I concentrated hard and with the help of the ring I managed to apparate right next to you!"

"So that means I managed to buy something useful." Harry smiled and pulled his wife into a kiss.

"But Harry…" she pulled back a bit. "What if something happens to you and I want to apparate to Durmstrang to help? You cannot apparate there, can you?"

"Well, the shop-keeper of the jewellery shop told me that the bind between the magic gems allows you to get to the bearer of the other one either way. It is not exactly apprating… it's like teleportation."

"What?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Too bad that you haven't watched any Star Trek episodes, dear. Or was it transportation there? Never mind." Harry sighed. "Anyway, it's a lot like apparition, but not the same, so you can get to Durmstrang if you want…"

"Any time?" she started to grin.

"Oh… no, sorry." Harry shook his head. "If you want to get to such magically well-guarded places as Durmstrang, it only works in danger. However nice it'd be for us if you could get to me every night… it's impossible."

"Oh, all right." she pouted. "Too bad, I already got my hopes up… now I'm disappointed."

"Don't be, just promise me that you'll never take off the ring."

"Why?" she asked.

"Because if you take it off, the magic connection will be broken. Of course if you pull it on again, the magic bind will be restored, but I think it's better it you don't take it off at all. I for one will never take it off."

"I won't, either." she smiled, pulling him into another kiss, when they heard Ron's angry voice:

"What? You accepted a gift from Krum?"

Everyone in the room turned in the direction of Ron and Hermione.

"What if I did?" she retorted. "It's just a pair of earrings! He saw me wearing the brooch I got from you and he wanted to surprise me with something that had the same colour!" she pointed at the sapphire brooch on her periwinkle-blue dress.

"But… why is he giving presents to you, huh?" Ron snapped with clenched fists. "Someone would think… that…"

"_You_ would think that, Ron, but no one else!" she shouted. "Because no one else is as stupid as you to believe that I have _anything_ to do with Viktor!"

"But you _do _seem to have something to do with him!" he fumed. "You're wearing a piece of jewellery that you got from him! Why???"

"Why? Because _you _haven't bought me earrings to go with this dress, that's why!" she was on the verge of tears. "Here… I'm not wearing them anymore!" she practically tore the earrings off her ears – a wonder that they didn't start to bleed - and dropped them on a nearby table.

"Hermione…" Ron stepped closer, seeing that he had gone too far. "I didn't want to… accuse you or something, but… I just didn't understand why Krum gave you a present."

"Why wouldn't he?" Harry cut in. "He gave a brooch with a similar perinwinkle-blue gem to McGonagall as well… didn't he, Hermione?"

"Oh, sure." she nodded.

"Did he?" Ron blinked.

"Yeah." Harry shrugged.

"Oh… that's okay, then, I guess." Ron said. "Forgive me, Herm… please?"

"All right… it's Christmas, after all." she nodded and let him gather her into a hug. Over Ron's shoulder Hermione gave Harry a grateful look. Harry just answered with a wink.

* * * * *

The week between Christmas and New Year seemed to have flown, and it was already New Year's Eve. 

"2000 in ten minutes." Ron said, pouring champagne into five glasses. "What'd you reckon it will be like, Harry? To live in the third millennium?"

"The third millennium only starts on the first of January, 2001." Hermione said in her usual know-it-all manner.

Ron shrugged. "Percy said the same. But many others say that 2000 is already the twenty-first century."

"They are wrong." Hermione replied. "Really. Can't they count? The first century lasted from the birth of Christ to 31st December, 100, and the second century began the next day, on the first of January, 101. The same applies for…"

"All right, I believe you." Ron rolled his eyes. "Anyway, it doesn't matter what we celebrate, the only thing that matters is that there's something to celebrate… and drink to."

"True." Sirius agreed, taking his glass of champagne from Ron.

"Well, it's time to make a wish for the next year." Ron said. 

"You are wrong, dear." Hermione replied. "It is time to make a pledge for the next year… for example you could pledge to drink less."

"Do I look that crazy?" Ron frowned. "I'm not going to make any kind of vows… but I'm going to wish for something."

"I hope it's nothing… dangerous." she folded her arms.

"Nope." he grinned at her.

"Two minutes, guys." Harry said, looking at the grandfather's clock in the corner. 

"Are you also making a wish?" Ginny asked, taking his hand.

"What could I wish for? I have everything… and those things that I don't have, aren't possible at all, so no use wishing for them." he said. 

She squeezed his hand. "Miracles happen, Harry… once in a while…"

"I don't believe in miracles." he replied with a sad smile.

"Hey!" Sirius held up his hands. "Shh! Ten… nine… eight… seven… six… five… four… three… two… Happy New Year!"

"Happy New Year!" everyone shouted in unison. A couple of Filibuster's No-heat, Wet-start Fireworks exploded in the garden, painting the sky above with all colours of the rainbow.

"Happy New Year, my love." Harry kissed Ginny. Sirius grinned at them, diverting his gaze from the smooching couple – only to see Ron and Hermione do the same.

*Ah, why don't I have a woman in my life?* he thought sourly. *Oh, that's it! My New Year's Wish! I want a woman!*

* * * * *

"So, do you, Percival Weasley, want Penelope Clearwater to be your wife?" the priest asked. (Yes, wizards also have priests!)

"Yes, I do." Percy replied with an extremely serious expression.

"And do you, Penelope Clearwater, want Percival Weasley to be your husband?"

"It's not too late to change your mind, Penny!" Fred said, only to get a withering glance from his mother, which he totally ignored.

"I do." Penelope answered.

"Too late." George groaned. "She's gonna regret it."

As the priest pronounced Percy and Penelope husband and wife, Fred leaned to George: "I'm never going to make this mistake, getting married."

"No?" Ginny whispered to the twins. "I thought you caught Millicent's bouquet, Fred."

"Rubbish. No woman's going to make me marry her." Fred declared, catching the glimpse of Angelina Johnson.

"Not even she?" Ginny smiled, seeing whom her brother was eyeing.

"No. No way." he replied sternly.

* * * * *

"Nice party, huh?" Remus Lupin said, holding a glass of champagne. "The bride's charming."

"Yeah, she's practically beaming." Sirius replied. "I wonder how long that will last."

"Really, Sirius, how came that you haven't found yourself a woman yet?" Lupin asked. "There are so many pretty, single witches, even at this party."

"Then why don't you go chase them?"

Remus turned red. "I think… they might not…"

"Might not what?" Sirius inquired.

"Might not want a werewolf…" his friend shrugged.

"But your former girlfriends… they didn't mind, did they?"

"What girlfriends?" Remus took a sip of the champagne.

"What…? Remus!" Sirius shouted. "You mean you never…?"

"Sssssh!" Lupin pressed his index-finger to his mouth. 

"But Remus!" Sirius didn't realise that he was still shouting.

"_Quietus_." Lupin pointed his wand at his friend's throat, then leaned closer to whisper: "I don't want this printed, Sirius. It would surely be a scoop for the journalists who are present… _Remus Lupin, the Virgin Werewolf_, but… would you be so kind and not shout it from the rooftop?"

Sirius nodded.

"Right, then. _Finite Incantatem_." Lupin said.

"You poor, poor fellow." Sirius shook his head in disbelief. "Terrible. Have women turned you down because you were a werewolf, or have you never even tried to um, persuade them?"

"There was someone I liked, long ago." Remus said with a dreamy expression. "She liked me too, but when she got to know what I was… she got scared."

"And? What happened to her?" Sirius got really curious.

"Well, she became a teacher."

"That's not what I'm interested in. Has she got married or anything?"

"No. As far as I know she's single." Remus replied.

"Do you know what that means?" Sirius grinned. "She still loves ya!"

"What? Rubbish." Lupin waved. "How could she love a werewolf? No… I'm sure she doesn't feel anything for me anymore."

"And you?"

"What's with me?"

"Do _you_ still love her?"

"That doesn't matter." Remus shrugged, reaching for a new glass of champagne. "It really doesn't matter."

"So you do." Sirius perceived. "You love her. Tell me, how could I help you, my friend?"

"I don't need your help, Sirius." Lupin shook his head with a stern expression.

"Remus, Remus, don't play the proud werewolf again, please!" his friend sighed.

"I'm not playing anything, I just don't want people's compassion, that's all." Lupin replied. "And now let's go, Penelope's just slicing the wedding tart. I don't want to miss it."

"Mmmm… my favourite type." Albus Dumbledore sighed happily, munching on a piece of tart. 

"Is there a type of tart that you don't like, sir?" Harry asked with a smile.

"No, I don't think there is." the old man grinned. "Nice speech you delivered as the best man, Harry."

"Thanks. I was quite surprised when Percy asked me to be his best man, really. I mean, he and I have never been friends or anything…"

"I believe our Percy just wanted to have someone important to be his best man… you know how ambitious he is. I wonder whether being married would dampen his ambitions."

"Well… that is up to Penelope. I hope she'll be bossy with him. That's what he deserves." Harry commented.

"Speaking of bossy…" Albus squinted at him with a mischievous little light in his eyes. "Is your sister-in-law still as bossy as she used to be?"

"Hermione? Oh, yeah. Bossier than ever." Harry smirked. "Not that it really bothers Ron. He loves her the way she is. He loves her not for being bossy, but for having such a good heart, such a willingness to help everyone." he looked at his two best friends dancing at the other end of the hall. "She is a bit nosy, of course and sometimes too chatty, spilling the beans about things she shouldn't, but even Aberforth says that she only wants to help, and that's right, I guess. Wonderful witch, Hermione." Harry looked back at Dumbledore, whose face didn't look as happy as it had a minute before. He was furrowing his brows and there was no trace of mischief in those stunningly blue eyes anymore. Harry didn't know what he had done or said wrong.

"Aberforth…" the old wizard put down the plate with his half-eaten slice of tart. "Truth be told, young Harry, I have forgotten that my brother was one of the Triwizard judges. Is he… is he all right?"

"Yeah, he is." Harry replied. "Apart from… well, he's a bit of, um, weirdo, I guess. No offence intended, sir, but your brother is a bit strange."

"Stranger than me?" Albus blinked, truly surprised.

"Er… yeah."

"That's nice to hear." Albus smiled in an impish kind of way. "I always thought I was the crazier of the two of us."

Harry stifled a laugh. 

"And, what is my 'strange' brother doing there in the far Russia?"

"Driving a reindeer-sleigh, making friends with yetis, wooing professor McGonagall…" these were the first things Harry could think of.

"What? Minerva?" Albus was doubling over with laughter. "Oh… that… that was… really… a good joke." he chuckled. "I guess some of my ribs might have broken. Can you tell me more jokes like that?"

"Actually I have heard one about three yetis who… but that wasn't a joke, sir. Aberforth really fancies professor McGonagall."

"Oh, poor Minerva." Dumbledore said, reaching out for the plate he had put down, carrying on with eating the cake. "She has been keeping in touch with me since the arrival at Durmstrang, but she never mentioned Aberforth. Poor, poor Minerva."

"Why…? Do you think it'd be that terrible for professor McGonagall to get into a… relationship with your brother?" Harry frowned.

"Weeeeell… maybe yes… maybe no." Albus replied. "Oh, excuse me, Harry, I need to get one more slice of this tart." he hurried off with his plate.

* * * * *

Fred was looking out of the window, into the park of the 'Burrow Manor' (it was the nickname of the Weasleys' new house). He had drunk a couple of glasses of champagne and maybe a bit of Ogden's Old Firewhiskey as well, and he was observing the snow-decked trees with a bemused sort of expression.

Suddenly he felt someone put a hand on his shoulder. Fred jerked his wand out of his pocket to shout _Stupefy_ when he saw that his 'attacker' had been Angelina.

"Oh, hi, babe." he grinned at her.

"You're drunk again, Fred." she scowled at him.

"Why, aren't I allowed to get a bit tipsy on my big brother's wedding?" he argued. "Really, Angie, weddings are the perfect occasions to get drunk."

"I seriously hope that you won't get drunk at _our _wedding." she crossed her arms.

"Our what?" Fred blinked. "You're also drunk, aren't you, sweetie?"

"I'm not drunk, I'm pregnant, Fred." she replied coolly.

"You… you… what?" he shouted.

"Hey, what's up, Fred? Angelina? Why are you shouting?" George walked up to them, holding a glass of fizz.

"I've just told your brother I was pregnant with his child." Angelina said.

"But… that's… that's… totally impossible!" Fred bellowed, making all the crowd in the hall go silent and listen to their row. "We haven't slept together since… Harry's birthday party! And that was five months ago!"

"What?" Angelina hissed. "Do you deny having done it with me on Guy Fawkes' Day? Night, I mean?"

"What?" Fred started to get really confused.

"In the stable! Remember? When everyone else was out there with the bonfires?!" she yelled back. "You were quite drunk back then, too!" she added furiously.

"That wasn't me!" he retorted. "I don't know who…" he suddenly turned to his twin-brother, who had been making steps backwards for the last minute, hoping to vanish into the crowd if needed. "GEORGE!"

"George?" Angelina shrieked. "You don't mean…?"

By this time George had reached the edge of the crowd. "_Locomotor Mortis_!" Fred shouted, swishing with his wand that he hadn't pocketed since Angelina's 'attack'. George fell backwards.

"Fred… listen…" he started. "I was drunk… I just saw a woman wanting to seduce me, and hell… I let her! It was already in the morning when I realised that it was Angelina!"

"So… it was really YOU!?!" Fred bellowed. His brother gulped, as white as a sheet. "Angelina!" he turned back to his girlfriend. "How did you NOT realise it wasn't me?"

"How could I have?" she hissed. "It was dark, for heaven's sake! Sometimes I cannot tell you apart in broad daylight – how could I tell you apart in the dark?"

"You…" Fred pointed at his twin, who was still lying on the floor. "You are going to marry her, understood?"

"Marry? Are you out of your mind?" George yelled, pulling his wand out of his robes. "_Finite Incantatem_." he pointed at his legs, and stood up.

"If you don't marry her…" Fred growled.

"Then…?" George took a step backwards.

"Then…"

And that was when all hell broke loose. Tables whooshed through the air, food littered the floor and guests – mainly ladies – screamed. It wasn't a bit like the food-fight at Harry's wedding – this wasn't just a play.

Harry, along with a couple of other wizards, hurried to pull the fighters apart – only to get a stabbing curse from Fred's wand. Had Fred not been drunk, or had he aimed properly, the curse might have killed Harry – the same one had severed Nearly Headless Nick's Head from his body two years earlier. Fortunately Harry got a 'mild' version of the curse, so only fell and hit his head.

Half an hour later he came round to see an anxious Ginny looking down at him.

"Oh, Harry…" she bent down and kissed him, tears coursing down her cheeks.

"What happened?" he croaked, feeling dizzy. He must have got a mild concussion.

"I was so scared…" she sniffed. "I was in the adjoining room when… the gem in my ring started to flicker… I knew that you were in trouble… I apparated… or rather um… teleported myself to you immediately and saw that you had fainted."

"Don't worry, I'm all right." he sat up slowly, looking around, seeing that they were still in the hall of the Burrow Manor, but no guests were around anymore. However, there were chairs turned over, table-cloths lying on the floor and everything looked terribly messy. "Oh… the fight." he murmured. "What happened?"

"George is at St. Mungo." Ginny replied. "Unconscious."

Percy's wedding went down in history as the most catastrophic wedding ever. The young husband, who had planned and prepared everything so well and thoroughly, sank into total depression. Some rumours say that he was so depressed that he didn't even sleep with his wife on their wedding night.


	19. Corpus Delicti

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A/N: how terrible! I read somewhere that HP5 might not be out sooner than autumn 2003! Not even this year! I can't bear the thought that we'll have to wait one and a half years for it! Why, for heaven's sake? Rowling said she was ready with it, then why do we have to wait? Or did Rowling lie? Does she have writer's block and hasn't written anything for months? I'm desperate, people, tell me that this rumour isn't true, please!!!

Now to your reviews: many of you suspected Tatyana to be Remus' secret love, but she isn't. They haven't even met and they will never meet.

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J-Kid: no, Mileta isn't that much of a danger. Someone/something else is. Don't worry, the Fred-Angie-George thing will work out.

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spanglestar: I'm happy you liked Hungary. Which part of the country have you visited? Budapest, maybe? (just because I live there.)

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LilGinny: Arianna is a cute name, but I already have names for all future characters, thanks :) The weather is quite warm and sunny here nowadays, so I already have a bit of tan.

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teacherchez: I like Minerva, of course, but not all the guys fall for her (why would they? She's and old spinster!:) No, I'm saving Rosmerta for someone else, not Lupin. Albus is already together with Mrs. Figg, I just don't write about them (maybe I will in the sequel, I don't know). Yes, I think that Arabella Figg is the same old Mrs. Figg from Privet Drive (or her daughter or sister.) We'll see in OotP, I hope. I personally don't think that Harry will die in book7 – if someone dies then it's going to be Albus/Severus/Ron. If Ron dies, then Harry will surely marry Hermione, but I hope that Ron stays alive, marries Herm and Harry gets Ginny. Neville is cute, but I think Ginny deserves someone better: Harry, of course. Why do you think that JKR hinted at a H/Hr relationship? Just because she kissed him on the cheek at the end of book four? I think Hermione loves Ron. And really, Harry cannot die, because the fans would kill Rowling if she killed him off! No, Angie isn't making it up and she'd never play the twins off of one another. She's too nice for that. And yes, the review was long enough, thanks! :)

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Crazycutee831: Dudley is a tenth- (or more) generation squib. Yes, the SW film will be played both in Hungarian and in English here in Hungary. I can't believe I'm going to see it in three days!

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Blondie in Disguise: I know the feeling of loving and hating a story at once. But if you already dislike it, then soon you are REALLY going to hate it, LOL :) After this chapter it will turn rather dark.

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Mabel Weasley: you can have Remus… until the final chapter of this story :)

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jeanine23Dr: first of all: I have read the sex ed story you mentioned, but didn't like it at all. It wasn't funny, just rude. Have you seen any of the SW films? No, I don't like Lord of the Rings. The movie was quite okay, but I absolutely dislike the books. Many people love them, but for me they are terribly boring. Frodo wakes up and they discuss what they should have for breakfast on 40 pages… arggghhh… it's not the book for me, not at all. This is the second time I'm reading it, but I still haven't managed to grow to like it (not that I wasn't trying! I DID try to find something to love in it, but I couldn't. If you are a great LotR fan, please, don't feel offended, tastes are very different, you know :) And please, DO study a bit more! Don't let your grades drop! Finally: X_Tow_Naga is a he, not a she :))

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Cassandra Anthemyst: what? I have forgot to mention your name??? My apologies! I'm really, really, really sorry! Yes, Fred will do the right thing :)

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X_Tow_Naga: I have learnt this otherwise: you don't need to display magic in order to pass it on to your child. Certain genes can be recessive through several generations before they prop up again. For example I inherited my terribly bushy hair from my great-grandma – not from my parents or grandparents. It's true that life isn't fair, but Ginny meant it for only their situation. IMHO life is never fair. I don't know whether Percy has friends, but I seriously doubt it :) About the rings working in danger: of course in the jewellery shop and at the middle of last chapter it worked without danger, but if you want to get to a very restricted place (like Durmstrang) you can only get there with the ring when in danger. I suppose the owner of the jewellery shop told this to Harry in The Dancing Bear, when Harry had already decided to buy it (but I left it out, people already said the story was boring, so I didn't want to bore the readers even more with technical data about the gems.) So, to restricted places you can only get with the gem's help when the bearer of the other gem is in trouble. Oh, yes, it's called transportation in Hungarian as well, I don't know why I remembered 'teleportation'. Never mind, it will stay teleportation, it sounds good. Yes, the fight between Herm and Ron was short, only to continue later… :) Foreshadowing? Who knows? *enigmatic smile* About the wizard priests: with this I only wanted to show how much I didn't agree with the Christians' HP hatred. I'm also Christian, but I don't find anything satanic in Harry – on the contrary, I think this book shows lots of Christian values: Harry, the boy who had never been loved is able to love others without selfishness and he doesn't let Sirius and Remus kill Pettigrew (forgive your enemies), etc. So I just thought: why not give that bunch of freaks (the bigot priests) a slap by saying that even wizards have priests? I think that priests who condemn Harry are seriously stupid. I for one know a Protestant pastor who is a great HP fan and I'm happy that there are normal priests as well! Angelina might have been drunk as well, but women usually don't admit that they were drunk. If they have a hangover, they say: "Oh, how terrible, there must be a front coming, my head hurts so much!" I don't think there are semi-permanent birth control spells. There might be such potions, but not spells (at least not in my story.) So, you're not a morning person, huh? I'm not one either :))

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Mage: had I included H/G's anniversary, I should have included Herm/Ron's as well, but that would have meant writing even more fluff, and I'm getting a bit sick of it :))

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aurora riddle: how do I do it? No idea :))) Nothing happened to Fred besides getting angry and cursing George. George, however is at St. Mungo now, unconscious.

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Eclectus: you haven't read The greatest scandal of Hogwarts history, have you? Because in there I explained how Dudley and Millicent Bulstrode got together. Yes, Davie is Dudley's brother – he was born in the final chapter of "Scandal". Lily is one and a half year old now. If you really haven't read my first story, then I advise you to do so, because things will happen in the future that are based on things that happened in TGSoHH, and you won't understand parts of the plot if you haven't read the original fic. Yes, I have seen The sound of music at least 10 times, I love it! (I got the idea for the Edelweiss from there :)

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princesswitch: are you all right now? I hope so. 

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NuttyBuddy: you'll get to know how this Fred-George-Angie thing works out… at the end of the fic *evil grin*

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blaubaerin: Herm decided to forgive Ron because it was Christmas. Remus reminds you of Superman? Hahahaha! That's gross! Maybe Angie was also a bit tipsy, that's why she didn't recognise that it wasn't Fred (she just didn't admit having been drunk).

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zzxm: are there jewish wizards? Why not? There are wizards in all countries and of all religions (just remember the Moon Run in TGSoHH, there were wizards and witches from all over the world.) Don't worry you'll get to know about the Dumbledore/Dumbledore grudge (in the very last chapter :)) (I might have asked this before, but I have forgot, sorry: so, are you a boy or a girl? I'm just interested how many male readers I have.)

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jennyKT: I did write about Muslim wizards in TGSoHH (remember: Egypt) and even about Hindi wizards (remember: India).

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xenocide: I just love hooking up people with each other, I can't help. Am I writing a soap opera? Well, truth be told I have watched way too many Brazilian and Mexican soap operas, they must have affected me. (May I ask something stupid: are you a boy or a girl? I might have asked this before, but I couldn't keep everyone's gender in mind.)

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PepsiAngel: have I outdone myself? *grin* thanks :) Well, of course Percy is the nickname for Percival. I thought it was obvious, but it seems I was wrong.

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One_Winged_Butterfly: in the article I wrote about Gildy's boxers I wrote that he went off to Tibet to flirt with a yeti while his evil house-elf placed his boxers at the disposal of the Gilderoy Pants' Fans witch-society, that had an exhibition of the boxers at Madam Malkin's. It was really hilarious – and the guy who played Lockhart in the RPG said he was rotfl. Yes, you are going to see Gildy again, but not much.

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Arif: I live in Budapest. What does 'doozy' mean? Did you write it in a positive or negative sense? Yes, condoms will work for a change. I don't think that Trelawney is really nasty – by far not as nasty as Rita. Trelawney is rather amusing. No, there are more than 14 chappies left – 20, to be exact. Yes, I have read ginnypotter and it was really good. I have even reviewed a couple of chapters. She just doesn't update quick enough! (which sucks, because by the time she updates, you forget what the fic was about :(

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Tessa: you'll see Percy again (though only for two single sentences at the end.) Don't worry, he'll be all right. Yes, the build-up chapters are over (at least I think so.)

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Wood's secret lover: no, don't worry about George. Sean Biggerstaff is really cool, but I'm not naming anyone after him.

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Moony Lover: who wouldn't love champagne? :)) Sorry, no hints!

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Kristen Michelle: I wish you were right about HP5 coming out this year and not next year! *sigh* I don't think I could wait any longer. Is your mum going to read this? (sorry, I forgot whose mother was the one who read my fics, was it yours?)

Also thanks to _Gwen Fifortry, The Face of Evil, Super saya-Jin Gotan, AmandaPanda, Angel Wings, Kit Cloudkicker, HerbieWerbie, Bienfoy, K.C. Hunter, Harrysgirl, Coolio, Debra T. Lewis, unsigned, Almah, goldenstar555, chicory tee, ladyyuy, Hollis, AlexanderPheonix, BlueIce, Evil Monkeys Abuser, LisaQT3, Waldomier, ILOVELINKPARK222, notebook girl, spangle*star, jennaration, Lady Lupin_ (sorry if I forgot anyone!)

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Warning: this chapter contains material (swearing) that is close to R rating! 

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Chapter 19

Corpus delicti

"I simply can't believe it." Ginny sighed, dropping herself into an armchair back at the Black Manor. "Poor Percy. How terrible for him."

"And poor George." Harry said. He had been told that medi-wizards had taken the younger Weasley-twin to St. Mungo after receiving certain curses from Fred.

"And poor Fred." Ron added. "George had knocked up _his_ girlfriend.

"I'd rather say poor Angelina." Hermione commented. "She had been had. But George didn't do it deliberately, he was drunk, after all!"

"I can't even imagine what they're going to do now." Harry said. "I mean… when this pregnancy stuff happened to Ginny and me, at least there wasn't another guy." 

Ginny gave him a peck on the cheek. "What other guy would I want if I have you, my sweet liquorice wand?"

Harry turned pink, hoping that the others didn't bother with interpreting his wife's comment. To his greatest relief they didn't. Everyone felt tired. Ginny said she wanted to have a look at the kids before she went to bed, so she headed upstairs. Ron and Hermione followed suit.

"It's really pity." Sirius told Harry. "It started as a good party. Nice music, pretty women, delicious tart…"

"Yeah. Dumbledore ate several slices of it." his godson replied. "You know, Sirius… when we were talking, I mentioned his brother to him, and he… changed."

"Changed?" Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Would you expand on it?"

"He fell silent." Harry shrugged. "He looked so distant for a while… then he started joking, as though he wanted to change the subject. I think… there's something seriously wrong with Albus and his brother. Shortly after I got to know Aberforth, he told me that they had had a row and that's why he had left Great Britain. He also said that the reason why Albus refused to play judge at the tournament was that he knew Aberforth would also be there. Now Albus said he had forgot that his brother would be there at Durmstrang, but I had a feeling that he was lying. When Aberforth first told me about this I thought he didn't mean it… that their row wasn't something to be taken seriously. But now I tend to believe that it was. I wonder what it could be about, though."

"Yeah, that must be something interesting." Sirius replied somewhat nonchalantly.

"You don't take this seriously, do you?" Harry asked.

"No." his godfather shook his head. "I've been occupied with something else, you know."

"And that _something_ is worrying you." Harry perceived.

"Exactly." Black nodded. "I'm… not supposed to tell this to anyone, but… it's about Remus."

"What happened to him?"

"What? Nothing. And that's his problem."

"I fear I don't understand."

"He is in love with someone. He tried to deny it, but he couldn't lie to his best friend." Sirius said. 

"Does that woman not love him back?"

"No idea about that." his godfather shrugged. "But one thing is sure: she _used to_ love him… before she got to know _what _he was."

"A werewolf, you mean?" Harry asked.

"Yup. She chickened out. Left him. And Remus has never loved anyone since then… not even physically, if you get what I mean."

"Ooooh." Harry breathed. "Poor guy. But they did it before… didn't they?" Sirius remained silent. "Oh, that's even worse. Heavens, poor Lupin. Couldn't we help him somehow?"

"If only we could…" Sirius shook his head. "And even if we could, he wouldn't let us."

"Wouldn't let us?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"You don't know Remus, Harry." his godfather sighed. "Not as well as I do. When we were children he was very shy… because he felt inferior. You can't imagine how hard it was for James, Peter and me to make friends with him. He was way too introverted, never talking to anyone, always sitting in a corner all by himself… but the three of us couldn't bear to see him that way, so we didn't leave him alone until he was willing to talk to us. And slowly, very slowly he became our friend. But even then, he always refused to accept our help… after we got to know what he was, he accepted help even less than ever before. He said he didn't need anyone's compassion. We… tried to persuade him that we wanted to help out of friendship, not compassion, but Remus was stubborn… he would never have let us try and become animagi, had we told him about it in advance."

"What? You didn't tell him?"

"No, because we knew he'd go to the headmaster or something to tell on us… not because we were breaking a rule… but because he would have thought that we did it out of sympathy. So we didn't tell him, and one night when the full moon was up, we surprised him. He was in his werewolf state, so he couldn't tell on us, he could only show his anger. But his anger subsided soon. During his terrible werewolf hours we – in animal form – stayed with him and he realised that it wasn't compassion. It was friendship. He managed to accept that we became animagi for his friendship, but he still hasn't lost his pride and still wouldn't let us help."

"Strange." Harry muttered. "How can someone be so shy and so proud at once?"

"No idea. Remus is a riddle." Sirius gave him a faint smile. 

"It's not right, Sirius." Harry hung his head. "If someone, then he would deserve to be happy. To be loved. Life's so damn unfair!" he slapped the armrest of his chair irritably.

"Damn unfair, huh?" Sirius looked at him. "Yeah, it is. And to many people."

*You wanted to say '_to you, too, Harry'_, didn't you, Sirius?* Harry thought and stood up. "I'm sleepy. G'night."

* * * * *

Next day everyone woke up late. It was already midday when Harry deigned to get up and that was only because Hedwig and her kids started madly tapping his room's window. Had they not arrived, Harry might have got up only for dinner.

"No letters, Hedwig?" he raised an eyebrow and let the owl-family in and sat down on the bed again. "Then what is this excitement, huh?" Hedwig gently nipped his fingers while Helena, Hannah, Helga, Herold, Hector and Hubert all perched themselves on Harry's shoulders, knees and one of them on his head. "Just needed some affection, eh?" he laughed, reaching out to caress the small owls. "I see. Missed me, haven't you, old girl?" Hedwig hooted her agreement

After having devoted time to the owls, Harry went downstairs. He found Ginny in the kitchen, wearing a strawberry patterned apron, helping Dinky with preparing lunch. She looked so sweet that Harry felt his heart melt.

"Hi, dearest." he sneaked up to her from behind and kissed her neck. "What is this wonderful smell, huh?"

"Some speciality I've learnt from a _Witch Weekly _recipe lately." she replied. "Now go, let me do it in peace."

"Oh, does this mean that I'm a distraction to you?" he laughed, gathering her into his arms. "Um, what about a bit of real distraction, huh?"

"What do you mean?" she giggled.

"There's still two left of Hermione's packages." he started nibbling on her left ear. "And I'm going to leave tomorrow. We should make use of them the sooner the better…"

"Harry! Really!" she slapped his hands playfully. "There'll be time for that, but now let me cook!"

"Dinky could do it alone." he pointed out.

"But _I_ want to do this." she replied resolutely. 

"Ginny…"

"Out with you!" she pointed at the door. "Out! And don't you dare disturb me before lunch!"

"Does that mean that you're available after lunch?" he asked with puppy-eyes.

"Maybe." she grinned. "Now go and play with Lily a bit."

"Aye, aye, captain! I'm going to teach her a bit of Quidditch, then."

"You… you aren't planning to make her ride a broomstick?" Ginny blanched.

"No. That will be second lesson. Now she'll only learn how to hit the bludgers." Harry winked at her and shut the door behind himself.

"Crazy." Ginny whispered. "But that's why I love him."

* * * * *

"Oooooooh, this was wondrous."

"The meal or the…?"

"Both." Harry took Ginny into his arms, kissing her forehead. "I could stay like this forever."

"Naked, you mean?" she asked. "You could catch a cold, you know. Or another pneumonia."

"You know what I meant." he whispered into her hair. "I wish I didn't have to leave tomorrow. This one and a half weeks have been simply perfect… with a couple of exceptions, of course."

"Oh…" she chuckled. "Poor Perce. I wonder if he has started eating yet."

"Really serious depression, huh?" Harry pulled up the quilt to cover their cooling bodies. "Has George come around yet?"

"No. But according to Doctor Fiddlesticks he is going to be all right soon." she replied. "Anyway, it's not George I'm worried about. It's Fred. He truly loved Angelina."

"Why are you talking in past tense?" he asked. "Do you think Fred doesn't love her anymore? Just because…"

"I don't know, Harry. This is going to be difficult to settle. The twins have always been on excellent terms with each other. This incident could ruin everything."

"What if it already has?"

"No idea. I wish I could help them."

"Yeah, me too." he sighed. *And Lupin as well.* he added in thought.

* * * * *

After dinner the family sat down before the fireplace, just to enjoy their last opportunity to talk before parting for a long time again. Harry and Hermione weren't coming back before Easter. Hermione promised Ron to try and ask for a portkey so that she could come home for his birthday (1st March), but she also told him not to get his hopes up, because it wasn't by far sure that she would be able to come at all. Everything depended on her tasks at Durmstrang (which, up till now, have not been too much, but she suspected that in the future she would need to play the chaperone for McGonagall. Minerva had been quite disappointed when she left to spend the holidays with her family – Hermione was sure that Minerva was afraid to be alone with mad old Aberforth Dumbledore.)

"Well, I guess I go and say goodbye to the kids and Hedwig. We're leaving early tomorrow." Harry stood up after a long chat.

"I'll go and pack your suitcase, shall I?" Ginny offered.

"Thanks, that would be a great help. I'm really tired."

"You don't look it." she smiled. "But packing suitcases is definitely no man's job. I saw what your clothes looked like after you packed them at Durmstrang. It was a hard job making them look normal again… I had to use some really strong ironing charms."

* * * * *

"… and the prince kissed Sleeping Beauty, who opened her beautiful, sky-blue eyes and laughed at him. 'My dear prince! You have come for me!' The prince married her and they lived happily ever after… Good night, my little princess." Harry bent down to place a kiss on his daughter's forehead. He wasn't sure whether Lily had understood the tale – she was only one and a half years old, after all… but she seemed to enjoy it. Maybe it was only because of her father's soothing voice that she loved so much.

"'Arry?" she opened her stunningly green eyes.

"What, dear? I thought you were already asleep."

"You go, 'Arry?"

"I have to, my sweet." he replied, though he knew this wasn't totally true. He didn't _have to_ go back to Durmstrang right now, he could have stayed until the second task, but that would have meant that Aberforth had to arrange everything on his own – because Viktor (being not creative enough) wasn't much of a help in this area. Harry didn't want to let old Aberforth Dumbledore do everything alone, so he decided to go back and assist in making up various obstacles and placing protection charms. Seeing his little daughter so sad about his departure made his heart sink, but he thought it would be unfair to let his old friend down now. "I'm leaving tomorrow, dear," he continued, "but I am going to be back soon. And until then you have Angel to take care of you." Angel was a stuffed unicorn that Lily had received from Harry for her first birthday. She loved that toy over all others. "You just hug Angel and think of me, and I'll be there with you."

"Where?" she asked.

"In your heart." he placed his hand on Lily's chest. "In there. And now, sleep my little princess."

She nodded and clutched Angel to herself.

"Good night." Harry looked back from the doorframe, smiling at the small form cuddling with the stuffed unicorn. Sometimes he still couldn't believe that this precious little being was his flesh and blood. She was simply too perfect – and exceptionally clever. As though she had been at least three years old. *She's like a second Hermione. I wonder what Hermione's future children will be like… little Einsteins?* he mused as he closed the door behind himself. *Ginny will have packed the suitcase by now. It's time for a nice, memorable good-bye-night.* he thought, feeling a huge grin spread on his face as he opened the door to their bedroom. *There's one more left of Herm's packages, so…* he couldn't even finish this train of thought, because the first thing he saw as he entered was Ginny standing in the middle of the room, practically shaking, her face chalk-white, her hands holding some kind of a crumpled sheet of paper.

"Gin?" he felt like running up to her, but she held out a hand, indicating that she didn't want him to come any closer. "Gin, what?"

She sniffed – Harry was sure that she had been fighting back tears – and handed him the piece of paper.

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Dear Harry,

Please, forgive me, I didn't want to get you into such an embarrassing situation. I know I'm a despicable little bitch for deceiving you with tears, but it felt so good to be consoled by you. I would like to thank you for last night – it was the most wonderful night of my life (until my brother caught us).

Love,

Mileta

Harry felt his knees buckle. It was the letter he had received from Krum's sister after that terrible incident in _The_ _Dancing Bear_. When he received it, he was already sick and possibly didn't know what he was doing when he nonchalantly stuffed the letter into the pocket of his dressing gown – the dressing gown that now was lying on the bed, next to a half-packed suitcase.

"Ginny…" he began, taking a step in her direction.

She held up both her hands again. "Don't touch me!"

"But dear, this is not what you think it is…" 

"No?" she hissed. "NO??? Do you think I'm totally crazy? Do I look crazy?"

"'Course not, but you are misunderstanding things…"

"Misunderstanding?" she let out a harsh laugh. "There's NO misunderstanding here!"

"But…" he had no idea what to say at all.

"You are a pathetic liar, Harry. I have told you that, haven't I?" she said with an unusually chilly voice. "So don't even try and lie to me! Everything is clear from this little love-letter! '_embarrassing situation'… 'despicable little bitch'… 'it felt sooooooo good to be consoled by you!'_" she spat with a face of a banshee. "_'the most wonderful night of my life!_' That shameless little… Mileta. Who's this Mileta at all?"

"Krum's sister." Harry sighed.

"Aha! '_my brother caught us'_! Great! You go around shagging Krum's sister, what a nice way of international magical co-operation! That's what Percy would suggest: to create excellent relationship with wizards from other countries, go and fuck their sisters!"

"GINNY!" he bellowed. "I NEVER SHAGGED HER!"

"Never? Hah! You really seem to take me for a complete idiot, Harry." she folded her arms, her eyes sending lightning-bolts at him.

"I – never – slept – with – anyone – else – but – you!" he shouted.

"That's right. I never thought you _slept _with her." she replied coolly.

"Ginny!" he ran up to her, gripping her arms against her will. "Ginny, I never loved anyone else!"

"I never thought you _loved_ her!" she shook his arms off herself. "You don't need to love someone in order to shag her."

"You aren't going to believe me, are you?" he frowned. "Then maybe we should resort to Veritaserum. I'll gladly subject myself to it."

"Veritaserum, eh?" she snapped. "Oh, how convenient!"

"Convenient?" he blinked.

"Yeah. You know as well as I do that in order to use Veritaserum you need to get the permission of the Ministry! It was really convenient for you to offer me this, because you knew that I would refuse… I'd never air our dirty laundry in public! The honour of my family means more to me. The honour of the Weasleys, I mean… not that of the Potters, because you don't seem to have it!"

"You said I was pathetic." he whispered. "But it's not me. It's you."

"Pathetic? Me?" she howled.

"Yeah. Pathetic, miserable… psychotic, that's what you are! You are not the Ginny I had fallen in love with! You changed after Daniel's birth. You…"

"Me? Changed?" she hissed. "And what about you? Haven't _you_ changed? Haven't you found yourself being psychotic? Miserable?" these words stabbed Harry in the heart. She had told him exactly what had happened to him. But he didn't have time to brood over this, because she carried on with her tirade: "You were feeling miserable and helpless, weren't you, Harry? You felt you needed to show someone that you weren't that miserable at all… and that's where this Mileta came in, wasn't it? She made you feel like a real man again, didn't she?"

"You… you are obsessed!" he snapped. "You are imagining things! You are… truly ill, Ginny!"

"Ill, aren't I?" she yelled. "Oh, yea, I am! I'm totally crazy! Crazy because I love someone who doesn't deserve it!"

Harry stepped closer. "You love me? _You love me_. I love you too, Ginny." he reached out with both hands, but she recoiled. "Heavens, Gin, you can't imagine how much I love you."

"Then why have you cheated on me?" she whispered with tears welling up in her eyes.

"I haven't cheated on you. Never. Our marriage is… sacred to me!"

"That's what I think of our marriage!" with a swish of her hand she tossed their wedding picture off the nearby beside table. Its glass case broke into a hundred little splinters… so did Harry's heart.

"Okay then! So be it! This is what _I _think of our marriage!" he shouted, and Ginny heard a clunk, followed by the bang of the door slammed shut.

She looked down to see something rolling on the floor, stopping right before her feet. As the light of the candles fell on it, the small object glinted gold and ruby.

Ginny knelt down and picked up the object – Harry's wedding ring with the magical gem set into it. The gem wasn't glowing now that the magic bind had been broken when Harry took it off.

Ginny's gaze fell on a piece of paper also lying on the floor – it was the letter that Harry must have dropped. She reached out with a trembling hand and snatched it up. "_Dear Harry… Love Mileta…_" she whispered, feeling tears pouring down on her cheeks. "Why have you lied to me, Harry?" she hid her face into her hands and carried on sobbing until she felt that there were no tears left in her at all.

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A/N2: you must absolutely hate me now, and I'm prepared for any howlers (with dungbombs attached) that you want to send me :)

Latin explanation: the title – corpus delicti – means an object that proves someone's guilt. For example it can be a gun that has killed someone.

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	20. Bewitch the mind, ensnare the senses

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A/N: YIPPPIEEEEEE! I HAVE SEEN STAR WARS EPISODE TWO: ATTACK OF THE CLONES, AND IT WAS WONDERFUL! THE MOST EXCITING STAR WARS MOVIE EVER! The only thing that disappointed me was that there was no real space-battle in it (just a bit of chasing), but there were other battles that made up for that – the battle-scenes in this movie have been the most spectacular of all SW movies so far – IMHO. Seeing Yoda fighting was absolutely delighting, and the arena-scene… wow! There were two big surprises for me: one of them was Jar Jar who has changed A LOT. I would never have thought that he could change this much. The other big surprise is about Anakin at the end, but I'm not telling you, because I don't want to spoil it for you – it will be a GREAT SURPRISE! It was very interesting to see the (negative) development of Anakin's character, and at the middle of the movie there was a scene with him that made me cry (I had to ask for tissues from my mum:) Hayden Christensen can glare so evilly that it made my hair stand on end! He'll be a cool Darth Vader, really! Seeing Watto again was hilarious… There were a lot of well-chosen lines of foreshadowing – and to top it all, these lines were even humorous! My favourite in the film was C3PO, who has never been this funny before – you'll see why, just go and watch the movie – you won't regret it, it's wicked!

And now to your reviews: haha, I loved the way you all wanted to kill/torture Mileta! Hilarious! :)) I have also received my first 76 death-wishes and a life-sentence at Azkaban, so thanks, I feel special! I know that you are terribly angry with me for being so nasty to poor Harry, but I need to warn you that this is just the beginning. In the near future (right in this chapter) I'll start to be even more cruel to him and for that I'm already apologising. I hope you know me enough to know that I love torturing the characters and the readers, just to solve everything at the end – so even if you are angry with me, don't be too angry, okay? :)) 

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VeRyWiLdWiTcH: no, the Dumbledore brothers have/had a totally different problem, it's not a little bit like Fred and George's problem. Not at all.

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Bucky: it didn't occur to Harry to burn the letter, because when he received it he was already terribly sick and wasn't thinking, so he just stuffed it into his pocket. I think the robes didn't need cleaning at all because they weren't dirty or smelly. If you already say I'm a sadist, I don't dare imagine what you'll say later :)) It's not you who keeps torturing herself over the story, it's me who keeps torturing the readers :)) *bad Agi, very-very-very bad Agi!*

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teacherchez: before the movie I imagined Minerva as being about 50, but Rowling said she was 70. Now she is about 80 – in my fic.

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spangle star: you wanted to write Szeged, right? :)) I'm glad you liked Hungary! Are you the same as _spangle*star_? 

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Cassandra Anthemyst: thanks for volunteering for betaing, but I'm not letting anyone read a single sentence of the story before I upload (the only person I let read it is my mum :)

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Crazycutee831: ah, so your grandma was Hungarian? Cool! No, Harry isn't going to explode at Mileta, because he has already forgiven her – now he kind of blames himself that he hadn't destroyed the letter. Of course he cannot really be blamed, because he was so sick when receiving the letter that he didn't practically know what he was doing. Yes, you have read about Remus' secret love – but not in my story (in Rowling's).

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X_Tow_Naga: no, I don't think there are other wizard hospitals in GB, because Rowling hasn't mentioned any. Ask her about this. Yes, there will be things revealed BEFORE the last chapter :) Why would witches/wizards cook? For fun, maybe? I know lots of people who actually love cooking (my grandpa, for example! Can you imagine him: a 86 year-old guy wearing an apron and cooking! He's such a good cook!) Why didn't Gin see the note when she was ironing? Maybe because Harry's night-gown didn't need ironing (there are certain materials that simply cannot get wrinkled), so the note only fell out of it's pocket when she folded it to place it into the suitcase. Harry – let's say:)) – didn't wear his robes during his stay at GB, because Ginny didn't let him have time to wear anything in their bedroom, LOL :) Packing spell? Interesting idea. I might use it in the future :) Why wouldn't Herm and McGonagall create the tasks? Because they teach at Hogwarts! Remember: in book4 Karkaroff and Maxime wasn't allowed to know about the tasks! Harry is different: he doesn't teach anywhere and he is considered trustworthy enough to keep his mouth shut about the tasks (while women are known to be too chatty).

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veronik: yes, Minerva likes Aberforth (though she is reluctant to admit it :)

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Ksiezniczka: I thought it was cute to make Lily call Harry as Harry, not dad. One of my teachers in the primary school had two kids and both of them called her Kate. (btw, is your penname Polish or something like that? Just wondering:)

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aurora riddle: so you think it's good to see some things going wrong? Good, because in the near future everything is going to go wrong :))

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Gwen Fifortry: up till now no dementor has visited me, but I'm still waiting with my wand held at the ready to shout _Expecto Patronum_!

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K.C. Hunter: I'll try and read your fic as soon as I have a bit of time, okay? Nowadays I'm really busy with my exams :(

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Moony Lover: don't worry about the ring, just read this chapter. 

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star queen: oh, so a woman is going to suffer for Remus in your fic? That must be cool :) I guess Rowling might want to write books 6 and 7 as well before book 5 gets published – for the same reason why I only upload my fic when it's about ready. You know it happens often that at the end of the fic I realise that I should have included something into chapter 3 and if it's already uploaded, I can't change it anymore (I'm too lazy to take it off and re-upload.) Rowling might also realise while writing book 7 that she should have written something into book 5, but if book 5 is already published, she cannot correct it anymore. So I guess this might be her reason. I'm still sad about the long wait :)

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Saphron: no, this chapter unfortunately doesn't make things a bit better – on the contrary. Sorry…

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jo: I don't think I'm sexist, because not all ladies in my fic stay at home. Molly, of course stays at home, but she did in Rowling's original story as well. Ginny only stays at home because she has little Daniel. I just can't imagine Ginny going off to work and let the house-elf take care of her half-year old son. Anyway, if you keep on reading, you'll see her work in my third fic (coming in autumn, I guess). And Hermione is working! She's not staying at home!

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Qahira Galetea: you love my story, no matter how evil it may get? Glad to hear, because it WILL get evil :)

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Romina: thanks for reviewing twice and I'm sorry for making you have a bad day :(

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Harrysgirl: so, you are a little Trelawney with all those hunches, huh? :)) No, the magic isn't gone from the rings, it just isn't working while either Harry or Ginny isn't wearing it.

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Super saya-Jin Gotan: I'm going to repair it, don't worry. Just not now… at the end :) But until then lots of complications will come up to turn things even worse than they are now. Bucky is right, I'm really a sadist :))

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Toby Haine: wow, you have written me the longest review ever! Up till now X_Tow_Naga has held the record, but now you have taken over! So, you are going to buy me a new PC now that your howler has exploded my older one? Good, I've been thinking I should get a new one :))) Oh no… mum just said _reparo _and it's restored to its original state. *sob* I'll have to put up the with the old one for a while… You asked whether you were allowed to swear in reviews. Well, why not? – as long as you don't call me this and that… of course you are free to criticise the story, just don't be too rude, okay? The story has 39 chapters (I'll be ready with uploading some time in August, because after 11th June I won't be around the computer too often – mainly once a week, so you'll get one chapter a week.) Yes, I'm writing a third part that will come out in autumn, I hope. Thanks for writing Eternal Labyrinth for me to read… it's very sweet :) How many chapters do you plan to write? You wrote it'd be bloody long :)

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Alexander Pheonix: no, Mileta is not the dark queen, someone else is – read this chapter and you'll see.

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Katie Bell: I'm not angry at all, just review a bit more often, okay?:)

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sarah the kitty kat: you asked what my name meant. Well, Agi is the Hungarian nickname for Agnes (that is my given name), and Vega is the name of a star (I love astronomy).

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PepsiAngel: I promise I'll fix the mess, but not now. Wait… a lot:)

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Nefertiri: glad to see your old nickname:) No, the bond isn't broken forever, just read this chapter. No, Herm doesn't know about the Harry/Mileta thing. You still like me more than Rita? Hm… after this chapter your opinion might change :) Harry was so angry by the fact that Ginny didn't believe in his innocence, that he simply left – he felt she wouldn't believe him if he started to explain things. 

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jeanine23Dr: oh, your parents are SW fans and you didn't know it??????? I'm glad you also find LotR boring, because it is. I couldn't really find a page that I loved, either. Good luck with your tests! No, X_Tow_Naga wasn't offended at all, he didn't even read your review (at least I don't think that he did). No, I'm not going to make them divorce – the sequel will be about something else.

Also thanks to: _Celtic Ember, makulit, Mabel Weasley, Kit Cloudkicker, AmandaPanda, PadmeSkywalker, Tessa, Faunix, princesswitch, Mauve Lipgloss, Nuttybuddy, Molto Bella, zzxm, goldenstar555, Baladar, jennaration, Mage, Coolio, Ronniekin's Sweetheart, Evil Monkeys Abuser, mazipoto, Almah, Aurumlupi, hogwartsgirl228, apple-pie,Bob33, not fish nor duck, HerbieWerbie, carahartie (should I really die???:), Tinabedina, Lavendar Brown_

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Chapter 20

Bewitch the mind, ensnare the senses

Harry felt as though his skull was going to split apart from the terrible buzzing in there.

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Don't touch me!

Do I look crazy?

Pathetic!

Miserable!

That's what I think of our marriage!

He pressed his hands to his temples, trying to shut out all the voices, but he simply couldn't – for the screams were coming from inside his head. He felt like bawling, felt like hitting his head into the walls, but most of all, he felt like jumping into some abyss from a high cliff, just fall and fall and fall until he reached a depth where he didn't hear those voices anymore… Just end it. Forever.

He felt his body engulfed in a gush of wind, thrusting him forward – was he already falling? Why was it so cold? 

He slowly opened his eyes to see several pairs of eyes looking down at him.

"Are you all right?" someone asked in Russian.

"What?" Harry blinked.

"Ah, English!" another guy with a strong Slavish accent said. "Come on, give me your hand! I'll help you up!"

Harry let the people help him to his feet and looked around. No wonder that he felt so cold: he had been lying in the snow for a short time, without having a cloak on. As he looked around, he saw small houses and a frozen fountain. Finally… he caught a glimpse of a highly familiar pub: _The Dancing Bear_.

"I'm in St. Petersburg…" he whispered, shivering. His mind reeled. How did he get here? *It must have been an instinctive apparition.* he thought, though he had never heard of such a thing before. *I just wanted to leave and my sub-conscious brought me back to Russia where I was supposed to come tomorrow.*

"Come, let's have a nice drink, that will warm you up!" one of the men led him into the inn. "Two QWVs, Svetlana, dear!" the man shouted to the landlady.

"QWV?" Harry asked, feeling too numb to think.

"Quality Wizard Vodka." the man replied. "That's what you need now, young fellow. Here." he pushed a goblet into Harry's hand. Harry looked down at the slightly yellowish liquid that seemed to be beckoning to him to drink it. *Maybe that's really what I need. To forget.* he thought and took a huge draught.

After having finished with the goblet of vodka, he felt a big temptation to drink one more, because those nasty voices in his head still kept screaming, though in a muffled sort of way. He was sure that one more glass would totally stifle those voices, but he knew that he needed to get to Durmstrang, and one more vodka would surely knock him out. He thanked the other wizard for the drink and dragged himself to his feet with great difficulty. He staggered to the fireplace, took some floo-powder and said: "Durmstrang!"

He came out of the fireplace in the Durmstang staff room. There was only one teacher sitting there, immersed in reading a book. She looked up to see Harry stumble out of the fireplace.

"Mr. Potter?" she put her book down. "Are you all right?"

"T…tatyana Fiodrovna." he nodded. It was surprising that he managed to recognise her in his current state.

"Come, Mr. Potter, sit down. You look extremely worn!"

"No, thank you." he shook his head. "All I need now is a bed and a nice, strong sleeping-pill. Well, maybe a painkiller as well, but…" he pressed his hands on his forehead, it was hurting so badly. This time it wasn't his scar – how could it be when Voldemort was dead? No, this time his whole head felt like burning. That wizard back in the pub wasn't right, the vodka didn't help at all. He was only feeling worse.

"Oh, my, you look like someone who is going to faint in any second!" professor Fiodrovna jumped up, gathering Harry into her arms. "I know a potion that will help you."

"Noooo… no more drinks." Harry shook his head.

"It is no wizard vodka, Mr. Potter." she said with a disapproving look. Harry's breath very clearly smelled of alcohol. "It's a remedy that will make you feel all right. Trust me, I'm the potions teacher here."

Harry gave her a faint smile, thinking that he had never trusted a Potions teacher before and wasn't sure whether it was the right time to begin trusting one.

However, he felt too weak to resist, so he let her take him up to her room.

"Come, have a seat." she pointed at a chair and hurried off to get him the remedy.

*What am I doing here?* Harry thought, propping his head into his palms, glaring at the stone table he was sitting at. *Why is this table made of stone? And why am I thinking of such silly things?* he sighed inwardly, barely able to keep himself awake.

Soon Tatyana Fiodrovna returned with a mug of fizzing orange liquid. "Here. This will make you feel okay."

"Thanks." he gave her a grateful smile and downed the potion that, to his great surprise, tasted good. *Much better than Snape's brews.* he thought with drooping eyelids. *Really, really good…* suddenly he didn't feel tired anymore. As though a new surge of energy had coursed through his body, he felt wide-awake. He opened his eyes, blinked, and didn't believe his eyes.

"Ginny?"

* * * * *

"Ginny!" Hermione ran up to the quivering heap that was her sister-in-law. "Ginny, what happened?"

"Haaaary…" she sobbed.

"What happened to him?" Hermione asked. "Where's he? I was awoken by the children crying. Then Dinky came screaming that master Harry and mistress Ginny were killing each other. What happened?"

Ginny handed her a crumpled paper. "He… he cheated on me."

"What? Impossible!" Hermione said, unfolding the paper. She read it through, then let out a small laugh. "Oh, you little goose! This is not what you think it is!"

"No?" the redheaded woman looked up with an intrigued expression on her tear-soaked face.

"No." her sister-in-law shook her head.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Ron entered, yawning. "Is the manor on fire?"

"No, just Ginny and Harry have been quarrelling." his wife said.

"Quarrelling? Why?" Ron asked.

"Because she thought that he had cheated on her."

"What? Harry cheated on my sister?" Ron burst out.

"No! That's what I was about to explain to her. It was just a stupid misunderstanding." Hermione replied.

"What happened, then?" Ginny stood up, wiping her face with her left hand. In her right she was still holding Harry's ring. "Everything that this Mileta wrote made me think…"

"Yeah. The letter is really quite easily misunderstood." Hermione nodded, seating herself on the bed. "The truth is that this Mileta is really in love with Harry and she deceived him, but not the way you think she did. She fed him a story that she had her seventeenth birthday and everyone forgot about it. She shed tears, of course to dramatise the situation. You know Harry's big heart – he immediately felt that he needed to help that poor little thing and Mileta suggested that they should have a birthday-party for her in an inn of St. Petersburg. They went there through the floo-network, and… well, the girl kissed Harry when Viktor arrived there. Later it turned out to that she kissed him when a waiter delivered her a birthday-cake on Harry's orders. Anyway, it was she, who kissed him, not the other way around." Hermione shot a meaningful look at Ginny, who nodded. "But you know Viktor," Hermione carried on, "he misunderstood the situation and wanted to kill Harry. They started fighting, turning up tables and stuff, then the landlady started screaming that they were ruining everything, so they went out into the snow and carried on fighting there. That was where Harry got pneumonia. He got soaked to the skin in minus twenty Celsius degrees… or it might have been minus thirty, I don't know. Anyway, it was a wonder that he survived, really. Since then he hasn't even talked to Mileta Krum. He is angry with her, and with a good reason. He almost died because of her little lie." Hermione finished her speech – of course she had no idea about Mileta's visit to Harry the night before they came back to England.

"Now wait a minute…" Ron said. "How do you know about all these… with such accuracy?"

"'Cause I was there!" Hermione replied, then turned red.

"WITH KRUM???"

* * * * *

Tatyana Fiodrovna looked down at the young man sleeping next to her. She reached out to stroke his face – a face of such beauty that it made her heart sink. His face looked so peaceful, his ebony-black eyebrows and eyelashes in contrast with his pale skin. Not even an ancient Greek sculptor could have cut it to more perfection. The only thing out of place there was a thin, lightning-shaped scar.

Tatyana's fingers traced the line of the scar. "You look so beautiful." she whispered. "Even with this scar." her gaze travelled downwards, taking in all parts of his body: his muscled chest that was rising and falling in a peaceful rhythm, his strong arms that had held her so tightly only half an hour earlier… then her glance returned to his mouth, that had been roaming over her body with such fervour that she thought impossible before.

She ran her fingers down his chest, which made him shiver, but he didn't wake up. "Ginny…" he muttered in his sleep with a smile on his face.

The Potions teacher knew that he was in a deep slumber. "When sleeping you look even cuter than awake, Harry Potter." she bent down and kissed him on the forehead. "Believe me, I did not want to hurt you. I did not want to deceive you… but I had to. I had to make you drink that potion and mistake me for someone else… your wife. Forgive me, please. You know what it is like to love someone with all your heart – I know you do. I know you love your wife so much that you'd die for her if needed… You know love, Harry Potter, so forgive me, please. I did this out of love." she placed a kiss on his lips and picked up her wand, pointing it at Harry. "_Cogo per somnum_. When you wake up, you won't remember anything. You just dress up and head up to your room without looking at me. Understood?"

"Yes." the sleeping Harry replied.

"Good." she smiled, stretching beside him. "You're a good boy, Harry. Not bad in bed, either… I beg for your forgiveness. I'm sure that you will understand me when it comes to that."

* * * * *

At about three in the morning Harry opened his eyes, but did not look around to see the Potions teacher sleeping beside him. He automatically reached out for his clothes, put them on and left the room.

"Hey, too early for a stroll, isn't it?" Anegin's ghost asked as Harry passed by him. "Heeeeey, I asked you something!" the ghost shouted, but Harry didn't seem to notice. "All right, you wanted it!" Anegin whooshed through the young wizard, who only shuddered, then continued his way up to his room on the fourth floor.

"Mad, isn't he?" the ghost mused as it watched him leave. "Mad… or hypnotised."

Harry was awaken by someone singing at seven o'clock. "…_love lifts up where we belong, where eagles fly, on a mountain high…_"

"What the…?" he squinted, looking for his glasses. Somehow he felt extremely tired. Then he remembered: he had had a terrible row with Ginny, then got drunk. However, he didn't remember having met professor Fiodrovna at all.

He slipped into his shoes (his slippers were still at Black Manor – in his troubled state of mind he had forgot about his packages last night – he hoped that Hermione would bring them.)

He stifled a yawn and stepped to the window, opened it and peered down onto the snow-covered park. "Oh, no, not that!" he groaned, seeing Aberforth standing under McGonagall's window, holding a balalaika. 

"What is this terrible…?" the pane of the window next to Harry's burst open to reveal the furious face of McGonagall. She was wearing a hairnet, and as far as Harry could tell from the little visible part of her sleeve, her night-gown was tartan. "Mr. Dumbledore! It's seven o'clock! What on Earth are you doing down there?"

"Giving you a serenade." the old man shrugged.

"A serenade?" she shouted. "Serenades are supposed to be given in the evening!"

"All right, then, I shall continue at eight p.m."

"No, for heaven's sake, spare me!"

"Oh, hi, Harry!" Aberforth waved as he caught glimpse of him standing at the window.

"Good morning, Aberforth. To you too, professor McGonagall!"

"Potter! What are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to come some time in the afternoon?"

"Well, yeah, but I chose to come last night."

"And Hermione? When is she coming?" Minerva asked.

"In a couple of hours, I guess." Harry replied.

"No. Already here." a tousled head appeared in the window next to McGonagall's.

"Herm! What are you doing here?" Harry shouted over to her. "When did you arrive?"

"At about midnight, I s'pose." she yawned. "Brought your stuff."

"Thanks." he gave her a smile. "Why didn't you wait until today, huh?"

"_Ron_." she sighed.

"Ron what?"

"A stupid git."

"Huh?"

"Tell ya later." Hermione's head disappeared from the window.

Harry and McGonagall exchanged confused looks.

* * * * *

"So, what happened?" Harry asked Hermione over breakfast.

"Ron was being an idiot." she pouted.

"Would you expand on it?"

"I found Ginny crying in your room. She told me that she thought you slept with someone else."

"For heaven's sake!" Harry sighed. "Will she ever believe me that I haven't slept with anyone else? Never ever?"

"Don't worry, she believes you now. At least I suppose so." Hermione said. "She showed me that letter from Mileta and I told her that it was a misunderstanding. I explained her everything… and that was when Ron got all riled up and started to howl that I cheated on him because I went on a date with Krum."

"What date?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you don't mean that one in _The Dancing Bear_?"

She nodded. "Ron thinks it was a real date. I couldn't persuade him. So I left. If he's so stupid, then it's his problem. He was quite angry when he found out that I got a present from Viktor, and this supposed 'date' only added fuel to the fire."

"I'm sorry, Herm." Harry squeezed her hand. "You two have fallen out because of me."

"Because of Mileta, you mean." Hermione whispered, so that Krum wouldn't hear. "Everything started with her, after all."

"No. This started much earlier, I think." Harry sighed. "With the birth of Daniel. That is why I left my home and came here, giving an opportunity to Mileta to fall for me and write me that damned letter."

"But… but you don't blame your son, do you, Harry?" she asked, pursing her lips.

"No." he shook his head with a sad smile. "He isn't responsible for anything. He's an innocent little angel. Still, it cannot be denied that it was he who started all this… or rather that great-great-great grandpa of the Evans who first turned out to be a squib." he poured himself a glass of tea with a sour expression. "Drop the topic."

She nodded. "All right, but promise me, Harry, that you will never ever blame Daniel!"

"I promise." he smiled. "He's my son whom I dearly love. And I love Ginny, too. If only she'd love me back again…"

Suddenly hooting filled the great hall – mail had arrived.

Harry didn't care for the owls at all, just carried on eating his toast, when – to his greatest surprise – a snowy owl swooped down on him, perching itself on his head.

"Hey!" he laughed. "Have you brought me something?"

The owl bent down, looking into Harry's eyes. "You're one of Hedwig's babies, aren't you?" he asked. The small owl hooted reassuringly. "But which one? Helga?" the owl shook its head. "Hector? No? Helena? Er, Herold? Hannah? No? Then you must be Hubert." the small owl nodded and dropped a letter into Harry's tea.

Wondering how such a young owl managed to cover such a long distance in such a short time, Harry fished the letter out of the cup – it felt strangely heavy. He took the parchment out of the envelope and started to read (the letter was written in a special wizard ink that does not get blurred when the paper gets wet).

__

Darling Harry,

Let me apologise for my terrible behaviour. I should have believed you. I should never have thought that you cheated on me. I know you would never do that. Forgive me for not trusting you, I was really horrible. Hermione told me everything and I felt like banging my head into something like Dinky does when she burns the food by accident. All I can bring up in my defence is that I was desperate that I might lose you… or that I had already lost you to that Mileta. I love you with all my heart and plead you to take back the ring and always wear it as the symbol of our eternal love.

Your Ginny

Harry looked into the envelope and saw his wedding ring in there. "So that's why it was so heavy." he whispered, slipping the ring onto his finger with a wide, satisfied grin. As soon as the ring touched his skin, the gem started to glow again – the connection was restored. "I'll never take it off. I love you too, Gin."

****

A/N2: okay, you are free to throw curses or anything at me, because for the time being I'm so filled with the Force (just having come back from the Star Wars movie) that I can repel all the curses with a single thought of my mind.

Anyway, now you can hate Tatyana instead of Mileta! You might be wondering why Tatyana did that – it will be revealed later and there will be a good reason for it.

Latin explanation (it might not be proper, but this is what I found in the dictionary): 'cogo per somnum' = to compel somebody in his dream to do something

The song Aberforth sang came from Moulin Rouge.


	21. Someovar

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A/N: Sorry for being a day late with the new chapter, but I spent the weekend and Whit Monday in the family's weekend-house where I don't have a computer. Thanks for the reviews, people! 

Many of you guessed whether Tatyana was pregnant, but no: she isn't. Having a baby from Harry is NOT her aim. She wants something else… you'll find out in time.

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Nefertiri: yes, Harry will get to know what Tatyana did to him, just not right now. The story is 39 chapters long. I'm glad you found LotR boring, because it's definitely is. The movie was much better than the book. So, you are only going to get the HP movie on VC and DVD on the 28th May? It came out in Hungary about a week ago. 

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Lavendar Brown: Harry did it in the evening and he was hypnotised so he didn't remember – several hours of his life were 'missing' without him knowing it. Just like with people who got (allegedly) kidnapped by aliens – they tend to forget what had happened to them and only realise it when a psychiatrist sends them into hypnosis. But Harry will find out about it another way.

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Moony Lover: well, the Amidala/Anakin romance was cute, but that was NOT what I loved in the movie, because it just didn't feel perfect. George Lucas is good at creating space-battles and lightsabre-fights, but he does not know much about romance. The fluff was cute, of course, but could have been better. No, Anakin isn't on the dark side at the end – but at the middle of the movie he does something that makes him start down the dark path. He'll only turn really dark in episode three. Ewan McGregor was okay, but my fave Jedi in this movie was definitely Yoda. He's the best fighter ever! No, Draco has never met Tatyana. Yes, I'm aware that the kiss that Herm gave Harry at the end of book4 was just a friendly kiss, that's what I told someone who was a H/Hr shipper. I simply don't believe in H/Hr. Wow! You have a wonderful theory of Remus dying at the hands of Wormtail! Very interesting and possible idea! I wish it wasn't right, though… I don't want Remus to die :( 

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X_Tow_Naga: yes, you are the record-holder again! I never knew you read all the responses. Aren't they boring? That person whom I told you were a boy only wrote once that: 'Your friend, X_Tow_Naga asks weird things. She is…' so something like this. I only told her that 'she' is a 'he.' I don't consider myself sexist, but I do think that women are chatty (though men can also be chatty, but women are chattier). You have never seen me when men start telling that they are so much better then women… I could scratch their eyes out, LOL:) I guess I'm just being objective: there are lots of things in which men are better, but lots of things in which women are better. Once my ethics teacher (a man!) had a lecture about sex-discrimination and I was pleasantly surprised to hear that he was not sexist at all – on the contrary, he said: not men, but women are the stronger sex because women can endure much more suffering than men – and he proved it with scientific facts. Okay, drop the topic. Harry didn't think of apparating to anywhere, his subconscious took him to Russia – so his subconscious didn't want him to commit suicide (it's not suercide, but suicide!) Let's say his hair wasn't that terribly messed up… it could have been plastered to his forehead by sweat or something (that does not mean that he felt so hot that he began sweating – you can sweat even when you are nervous and he WAS nervous). Get-drunk-now spell? LOL, what an idea! No, I'm definitely not going to use it! Why didn't Herm say that she was there alone, without Krum? Because then how could Krum have beaten up Harry? It would have been a logical mistake! Why didn't Tatyana use Polyjuice? Simple: she would have needed a part (hair, for example) of Ginny, but Ginny wasn't available. Why doesn't Minerva cast a charm on herself not to hear Aberforth? Because if she did so, then I guess she wouldn't hear other people as well (could there be a selective hearing charm? I don't think so). I didn't want Hedwig to come, that's why I sent her son for a change. Yes, Tatyana's reasons will be given in… chapter 28. You wrote your mac never crashed. My current computer isn't a mac, but it only crashed for a couple of times when I was online – offline it never crashed! My only big problem with is that it's way too slow because its Winchester doesn't have much free space anymore. Anyway, thanks for the advice.

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aurora riddle: read my answer to Moony Lover.

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Aurumlupi: yes, you are going to find out about the Dumbledore brothers, though only in the final (39th) I'm glad you liked TGSoHH. What does your nickname mean? Is it something in Latin? Are you a boy or a girl?

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Saphron: you don't hate Tatyana? You will… you will :)

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blaubaerin: I never knew where that song originally came from I only heard it in Moulin Rouge.

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Faunix: what exactly did Tatyana do to Harry? Made him drink a potion that made him believe that she was Ginny – it was kind of a hypnosis-potion. Then she slept with him, finally made him forget all about their sexual act. So he doesn't remember a thing.

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Crazycutee831: Harry pays his elf – as he had told Neville in chapter two. No, I'm not going to kill any Krums. My real name is Agnes, the 'agi' in my penname is the Hungarian nickname for Agnes. 'Vega' is the name of a star (I love astronomy).

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Toby Haine: I'm glad you liked SW! Yoda rulez! I think that the magic bond between the rings doesn't get broken forever if you take it off, it can only be broken forever if either Gin or Harry dies. So when Harry put it on again, the connection was restored. You wrote: "I hope harry has a decent explanation for that, is anyone else ever going to find out?" Well, it will not be Harry who's going to explain it, because he has no idea that he had slept with her. But of course it'll be explained later… in chapter 28. You are the second reviewer here who calls X_Tow_Naga a 'she', but she's a HE! :))) And yes, he holds the record again… I love you guys competing by trying to write the longest review ever… X_Tow_Naga's last review was longer than an A4 page! 

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Derkaun Zarion: yeah, I loved it when Yoda stopped fighting then picked the cane and hobbled off. So cute :) And I was utterly shocked by Anakin's loss of hand… but at least now I understand why he cut off Luke's hand: to make his son look more alike him, LOL:)

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Pudadingding: you asked whether Tatyana slept with Harry to get pregnant or to cause him more aggravation by announcing it to the whole world. Well, neither. No, my dragon is totally innocent! *Agi pats Susu's head: good boy!* Give my regards to Tinky-Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa, Po and Noo-Noo!

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spangle*star: no, the greatest shame has nothing to do with getting pregnant. It will be something else, revealed in about two weeks. 

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LilGinny: I'm living in Hungary, I haven't been to America yet. Besides my native language I speak English and German. I might start Spanish soon. 

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PepsiAngel: no, I didn't really like Moulin Rouge, because it was way too sappy for me. But the music was cool, and Ewan McGregor is just adorable! I never thought he could actually sing! 

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Almah: yeah, Tatyana did sleep with Harry – you didn't miss anything. Reasons will be given later. I liked the concentrated dementor you sent me, thanks :))

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Bucky: yes, I have turned to the Dark Side – from now on call me Darth Agi. 

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Wood's secret lover: I cried when Anakin told Padme that he had killed all the tuskens – not only the men, but the women and the children as well. Strangely I didn't cry when Shmi died, only afterwards. (damn, I'm such an over-sensitive little dupe!) My favourite bit in the movie? Well… Yoda fighting and C3PO with the other droid's head – that was hilarious! No, the little Hedwigs are just extras. I think Hogwarts is free – the Weasleys couldn't really pay for it, could they? 

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star queen: oh, Hayden sent chills down my spine as well! I don't know whether Christopher Lee is knighted or not. Not all women fall in love with Harry. Tatyana does NOT love him. 

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J-Kid: I didn't like the romance scenes, either, but I thought that C3PO was cute. And I did not like Jar Jar as a politician! 

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Lydia Van Buren: I sent you an email.

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Sherylyn: I'd be happy if Ewan played Remus :)

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Arif: what? Your friend and brother (two males?) think that Moulin Rouge is cool? I'm surprised, because I – being a female – thought that it was way too sappy for my taste! Okay, I'm telling you at last: you have met one of the enemies. The longest review has been written by X_Tow_Naga.

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teacherchez: you can have hope :)

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Tessa: no, Tatyana won't blackmail him. 

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nutmeg: I did not give Ron your birthday (that means you were born on 1st March?), Rowling did. She told in an interview that Hermione's birthday is 19th September and Ron's is 1st March.

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Romina: no, neither Mileta nor Tatyana used Polyjuice.

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jeanine23Dr: you'll get to know why Tatyana did that. Later. LOL! Aberforth singing Lady marmalade… hilarious idea! Thank you for the encouragement.

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Bexpotter: I'm honoured that my fic is the only H/G fic you like. Why doesn't your dad let you watch SW EP 4-6? Those are the best ones! Talk him into letting you watch them!

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zzxm: I'd be sooooo over the moon if the rumours about HP5 coming out only next year weren't true!!!

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Harrysgirl: thank you, thank you so much, you people keep flattering me, when I don't even deserve it! Thanks once more.

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LisaQT3: if Harry's life was nice and easy, the readers (and me too) would be bored to death. I love making him suffer, just to settle everything at the end. 

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Almee: I sent you a mail.

Also thanks to _Lady Schezar, AmandaPanda, Qahira Galetea, hogwartsgirl2281, princesswitch, HerbieWerbie, One winged butterfly, spangle star, alli, goldenstar555, Katie Bell, Mage, K.C. Hunter, Waldomier, Lupinslover, jennaration, Black Ice, Alexander Pheonix, Kit Cloudkicker, apple-pie, PadmeSkywalker, Blondie in Disguise, Gwen Fifortry (or Lupin's Angel), Notebook Girl, Evil Monkeys Abuser, Ari Potter, NuttyBuddy, Elfangor19, Renai, Lana Potter, Coolio, Super saya-Jin Gotan, Pumpkin3223, xenocide, Tinabedina,, Kristen Michelle _

****

Chapter 21

Someovar

"Where's Herm-own-ninny?" Krum asked Harry over lunch.

"No idea. Maybe up in her room, fuming about Ron's behaviour."

"What is with Ron?" Viktor raised an eyebrow.

"Ah, well, you know, Ron thinks that Hermione cheated on him… with you."

"With me?" 

"Yeah. Ron's… well, he's like that, you know. If he takes something into his head, there's no power on Earth that could convince him of its opposite… By the way, how are the arrangements of the Yule ball coming along?"

"Everything's ready." Krum straightened his back. "You Hogwarts folks will be surprised."

"I barely can wait." Harry grinned. "I only hope that you haven't hired the same pair of pogrebins to play the balalaika."

The same afternoon Harry met Dennis who seemed pretty nervous about the upcoming ball.

"Who are you taking?" Harry asked.

"Er… no one yet." Dennis blushed, looking down at his shoes.

"No one? But the ball's tomorrow! You should really go and ask someone out."

"Easy to say."

"I know." Harry replied, remembering his own problems with getting a dance partner. "Do you know anyone you'd like to ask?"

"Er… maybe."

"Who?"

"M…mileta Krum."

"Mileta?" Harry laughed. He found this rather amusing.

"It's not funny." Dennis scowled.

"You fancy her?"

"Kind of." the boy shrugged. "But… is it allowed at all that two champions choose each other as dance partners?"

"Don't know. I'll ask Viktor for you, all right?"

"No, for heaven's sake!" Dennis held up his hands. "I don't want Mr. Krum to know that I like his sister!"

"Then how are you going to find it out?"

"Dunno." the boy shook his head. "Don't bother with it, Harry, she might already have a partner."

"She might." Harry nodded. '_Cedric. Cedric Diggory_.' Cho's words echoed in his mind. Poor Ced. He had been dead for almost five years. And Cho… as much as Harry knew, she had opened a fast food restaurant in China, and it became so successful that McRice restaurants started to appear all around the globe. Harry had also eaten a wonderful rice-tart at one. "I suggest you ask her out right away, or you'll miss the chance and she'll surely go with someone else."

"All right. I'll do… maybe." Dennis said and left.

* * * * *

Harry was already about to go to bed when someone knocked on his door. *I hope it's not Mileta.* he thought and went to answer it.

No such luck.

"Hello, Harry." Ms. Krum said. "I wanted to apologise."

"Come in." Harry sighed, having a feeling that her apology was going to be too long to listen to with her standing on his curb.

"Thanks." she rewarded him with a radiant smile and entered. "I'd like to tell you that I was really stupid… that night. You were right, about everything. Forgive me and… come to the ball with me."

"To the ball?" Harry blinked. "But… you're a champion. I'm a judge. It's against the rules."

"Against what rules?" she crossed her arms. "I have read the rules of the Triwizard Tournament… which you haven't done, have you?"

Harry shook his head.

"There is no rule saying that a champion cannot go with a judge. Anyway, Guillame is going with professor Zwezda. With a teacher. It's quite the same as going with a judge."

"I don't think so. Anyway… it wouldn't be all right… someone would think… that I'm _partial_."

"Who cares?"

"_I _do. I care."

"But you're my only hope, Harry." Mileta took a step in his direction. "Everyone else has a partner already."

"I know someone who does not." 

"Who?"

"Dennis Creevey."

"Dennis?" Mileta spat the name. "That weenie little guy?"

"That weenie little guy saved your life, remember?" 

"I wasn't in real danger." she replied with a wry face. "Snow White only wanted to play with me."

"But you though he wanted to eat you." Harry pointed out. "And Dennis missed his chance to get the Black Edelweiss because of you."

"Oh, all right." she sighed. "Let it be Creevey, then. But you are going to dance with me at least once!"

"I promise I will." he smiled and saw her out.

* * * * *

Next morning Harry awoke to see presents at the end of his bed. "Oh, of course! Today's Christmas for the Orthodox Church." he yawned, putting his glasses on. "Let's see." he reached out for the first package that contained a fishing-rod from Aberforth. There was a card enclosed: '_What about a nice ice fishing tomorrow? Happy Xmas, Aberforth_.'

McGonagall sent him a nice, warm cap (with red and yellow stripes symbolising Gryffindor). There was a package from Krum, containing a book with the title _1001 tactics of catching the Snitch_, and a note as well: '_To the next star of the Quidditch-sky. Normally people here don't give presents to each other at Christmas, they give presents at new year. However, this year the Durmstrang people decided to adapt themselves to the guests' customs, so Happy Christmas, Harry'_.

To his great relief Harry didn't get anything from Mileta.

Soon he dressed up and joined Hermione, who was talking to Viktor in front of Krum's room.

"You really haven't opened your presents yet?" she asked, annoyed.

"I haven't had time yet, Herm-own-ninny." he explained.

"You have time now, so come on, open them!"

"Yes, yes, let's see the headmaster open his presents!" Aberforth clapped gleefully and they followed the unwilling Krum into his room. Harry and professor McGonagall entered, either.

There was an enormous heap of presents under Viktor's Christmas tree, all about the same size. Seeing all the presents, Viktor's eyes gleamed. "When I was a little child I was always so excited about presents I got from my parents… now I'm even more excited about the gifts from my friends!" he rubbed his hands together. "Let's see… Which one is from you, Herm-own-ninny?"

"That one in the green package." she smiled. "I hope you'll like it."

"I'm sure I will." he grinned and ripped the wrapper off a huge box. "Oh, I'm really so excited… what could be in here?" he muttered, opening the box, pulling out something silver and shiny. "Wow! A brand new samovar!" he shouted with childish glee.

"Do you like it?" she asked.

"Of course I do! My old one is rather chipped and I wanted to buy a new one, but it seems I don't need to! Thank you, Herm-own-ninny! This is a beautiful and very useful gift! "

Harry glanced at Aberforth, who looked a bit nervous, then at McGonagall, who looked downright nervous. The door burst open and Mileta ran in. "Have you seen my present yet, brother? I decided to buy you the present this year for Christmas, not for New Year – I hope you don't mind!"

"Not at all." Viktor smiled. "Though I was a bit surprised that I didn't get anything from you for New Year. So… which one is from you? The pink one, I presume?"

"Bingo." she nodded with a huge grin.

"Now, what is this?" Viktor peeled the Barbie-pink wrapper off something. It was a huge box. He opened it excitedly and pulled out… a samovar. "Er… how nice." he looked up to see his sister beaming at him. "Very beautiful, Mil, thanks."

"I'm glad you like it. Merry Christmas." she pecked him on the cheek.

"And now, let's see the others." Viktor rubbed his hands together, reaching out for a yellow package and curiously opening its wrapping.

Harry looked at Aberforth, who was tugging his beard in nervousness, and Minerva, who had closed her eyes.

The yellow wrapper fell off the present – another big carton, containing… a third samovar.

"Oh, my, what a surprise! How could you think of this, Aberforth?"

"Er, I thought you could use a new samovar." the old man shrugged.

"Thanks a lot." Krum replied with a forced smile. "Well, the navy-blue, that's from you, right, professor McGonagall?"

"S'pose so." she clutched at her chest as the young headmaster opened the case to pull out the greatest samovar with golden ornaments.

"Awww." Krum said. "Very… creative idea. Thank you, professor."

"And what have _you _bought him?" Hermione whispered to Harry with an anxious expression.

"Let it be a surprise for you, too." Harry whispered back.

Meanwhile, Viktor started pulling the silvery paper of his last present – with a rather hopeless expression. Everyone watched with bated breaths as he pulled something out of the wrapping. An expression of relief, then disappointment fell over Viktor's face.

"What? Tea leaves?" Hermione squinted at Harry. "A crate of tea leaves?" her eyes shifted back to Krum, who was standing there with an extremely dull expression, holding a dozen of Pickwick, Sir Morton, Ceylon, Earl Grey, Darjeeling and Lipton packages (orange-, banana-, lemon-, apple-, jasmine-, peppermint-, strawberry- and blackberry-flavoured). Then he started to chuckle, his chuckle slowly turning into a loud guffaw. Soon everyone else was laughing with him so loudly that it could be heard on the ground floor as well.

"Well, he has something to use his four samovars for, doesn't he?" Harry grinned at Hermione, who was wiping tears of laughter from her face.

"You knew what everyone was going to buy him and didn't tell me?" she asked, a hint of accusation in her voice

"Oh, yes, I knew, my dear," he replied with a singsong voice, "my Inner Eye never deceives me and it told me to look into my crystal last week, and did you know what I saw there?"

"The Grim?" she raised an eyebrow.

"No, my dear… though you aren't too far… I saw Death, my dear… Viktor Krum, drowning in tea…"

"Oh, come on, Harry, try to be a bit more serious!" she laughed.

"Serious? But it's Christmas, my dear, and my crystal says that if you celebrate Christmas twice in two weeks then you are entitled to be as childish as you want to… By the way," he changed back to his normal voice, "I haven't even thanked you for the envelope you slipped under my bedroom-door. It was a brilliant idea, Herm. I'm in your debt."

They watched as Viktor spilled water into his brand new samovars from the tip of his wand.

"Tonight at the ball there won't be any butterbeer or champagne." he declared. "Tea only."

* * * * *

As everyone walked downstairs for lunch, Aberforth joined McGonagall with a cheery expression. "Have you seen my present to you?"

"No, Mr. Dumbledore." she replied, surprised. "I haven't opened any of my presents yet."

"Then go and have a look at it." he suggested and hurried downstairs.

Minerva watched him leave with a scowl. "Crazy old guy…" she whispered. Still, she got rather curious, so instead of lunch she decided to climb up to her room and have a look at that present.

Up in her room she started opening the gifts, having no idea, which one was from Aberforth.

A book from Hermione… another book from Harry… and a third book from Aberforth...

"_Romeo and Juliet_???" she gasped. "Mental, that guy!"

"I don't know how to thank you, Harry." Dennis said, beaming. "You are really so brave… I wouldn't have dared to go to Mileta and ask her. I'm in your debt."

Harry waved. "Come off it, Dennis. It was no problem for me, really."

"And… did she like the idea of going with me?"

"Er… absolutely. She was charmed."

"Wonderful!" Dennis clasped his hands. "I've got to go and dress up properly. She needs to have a good-looking partner!"

Harry sighed, watching the boy leave.

"Ashamed, aren't you?" came a voice from somewhere.

"What? Who's there?" he looked around.

"Me!" the ghost of Anna Karenina appeared from out nowhere. "That was really not nice." she declared. "Deceiving that nice young man!"

"How do you know that I deceived him?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Because I've seen… er…" her voice faltered.

"You've been following me around!" he gasped. "Invisible! And you are telling me that _I_ wasn't behaving properly? Have you no shame?"

"I…" her eyes filled with tears. "I've… just been… so lonely… without my dear count Wronsky… and you… remind me of him!" she sobbed.

"Do I look like count Wronsky?" he furrowed his brow. "I never knew. Did he also have glasses?"

"No, but… you're just as sexy as he is!" she sniffed.

"Oh, just what I need now…" he sighed. "Another ghost falling for me… Moaning Myrtle was enough!"

"Who?" Anna asked, wiping her tear-soaked face.

"Never mind. Gotta go. And please, Ms. Karenina… listen, would you… stop following me around? Especially in an invisible form? I do have a private life, you know."

"I know." she turned pink – as much as a ghost could blush. "Seen you with Viktor Krum's sister…"

"That's gross." he grunted. "Can I count on your discretion?"

"Of course you can." she giggled. "See you."

"No!" he yelled. "Do – not – _see_ – me, please?!?"

* * * * *

"Where's Hermione?" professor McGonagall asked Harry at the entrance to the great hall.

"Must be up in her room, making herself ready for the ball… using liberal amounts of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion, I suppose."

"Huh?"

"You'll see." Harry grinned. "I'm wondering who she's coming with, though."

"I thought she was coming with you." Minerva said. 

"Not me." he shook his head.

"Are you taking someone else?"

"No. I'm single. And that's all right. I had quite much trouble finding a partner last time." he cast an impish glance at Minerva. "You really made it difficult for me, professor."

"Did I?" she allowed herself a smile. "Well, judging by your frightened expression when I told you about having to take someone to the ball, I guessed it must have been rather unpleasant news for you. But eventually you and Ms. Patil made a nice couple."

"And how." Harry smirked. "She wasn't talking to me for weeks afterwards. Neglected her a bit, I guess."

"Couldn't take your eyes off Ms. Chang." McGonagall nodded.

Harry looked surprised. "You knew? You knew that I liked her?"

"Well… Albus told me, so I knew."

"I guess it's not worth asking where _he _knew it from." Harry replied. "He always knew everything. Strange man… but truly wonderful."

"If only his brother resembled him a bit." she sighed. "But no, he doesn't."

"Do you fancy him, professor?"

"What? Me?" she snapped. "Never, Potter, never! That man is… a clown!" she breathed as she spotted Aberforth, coming down the stairs, arm in arm with Hermione. He was wearing an orange-red checked cloak with a funny wizard's hat that had bells hanging from it.

"Well… women sometimes like men who make them laugh." Harry pointed out. "Oh, hello, Hermione. You look wonderful."

"Thanks, Harry." she smiled. She was really charming in her long, mauve robes. Her hair was not in a bun this time, but falling down on her shoulders in nice curls – at the top of her head she arranged her hair into a crown and put some small, pinkish flowers into it. 

"Good evening, Ms. McGonagall." Aberforth grinned at Minerva. "Where's your partner?"

"Um… here." Harry put an arm around McGonagall's shoulder. "Ready to go in, Minerva?"

"Oh, of course." she straightened herself, cast a despising look at Aberforth and let Harry lead her into the great hall.

"Mental, that woman." Aberforth whispered to Hermione.

"Mental… maybe. But you still like her." she replied, grinning. "C'mon, let's go in."

* * * * *

As they entered the Great Hall, Harry had to admit that Krum had been right about the guests being surprised. The always so dark and gloomy Durmstrang castle seemed to have come alive all at once. The usually grey and dull walls were adorned with colourful tapestries, most of them showing winter and Christmas scenes – Santa Claus whooshed from one tapestry into the other while at other tapestries jovial forms kept throwing snowballs at each other.

Myriad star-shaped snowflakes hung from the ceiling in bunches of fives and sixes, swaying rhythmically. When they clashed with each other, they emitted some kind of enchanting music, sounding like a carillon.

As Harry led McGonagall onto the dance floor, he was surprised to see several dozens of Christmas trees standing all over the hall, at the middle of the dance floor as well. When he got closer to them, he realised that they weren't real pines – they couldn't be real, since they looked eerily transparent, as if they had been ghosts of pine-trees. 

"What are these?" he asked his dance-partner, reaching out to touch one of these ethereal objects, only to feel air – his hand simply went through the tree-branches that were loaded with glittering golden bulbs. Still, the bulbs were also intangible.

"Holo-charms." McGonagall shrugged. "Quite a new development, so I heard."

"Wicked!" Harry said admiringly as they danced through a Christmas tree. 

"I have to thank you, Potter." Minerva told him all of a sudden. "You saved me from a rather embarrassing situation."

"You're welcome, professor." he smiled at her, looking over to Aberforth and Hermione, whose robes clashed terribly with each other. They were dancing next to Madame Maxime and Stahanov, the caretaker. Not far from them Dennis was steering a rather unwilling Mileta through the dance floor. "I was kind of expecting to see Hermione with Viktor tonight."

"With Mr. Krum? Why?" McGonagall asked.

"Well… Viktor fancies her, I guess."

"Still?" 

"Seems so." Harry sighed. "And that is why Hermione isn't talking to Ron now. I mean, she said she wouldn't be writing to him for a while. She's really angry."

"Angry? Why?"

"Well, she and Ron had a row, because Ron thought that she was going out with Krum."

"Ah, quite unpleasant." Minerva nodded. "Mr. Weasley always possessed that kind of temper. Pity. They are such a nice couple. Just like you and Ginny. Really, how were the holidays with her?"

"Uh, they were okay. Finally I got to see my kids." he gave an evasive answer. "Really, do you see Viktor anywhere?"

"Yes, he's over there, dancing with the Potions teacher, that Fyodorna or who."

Krum was really dancing with Tatyana – she was steering, and also casting surreptitious glances at Harry. When the song ended, she left Viktor (who was quite sourly eyeing Hermione with Dumbledore) and walked up to Harry and Minerva.

"It's ladies invitation. May I ask you for this dance?" she smiled brilliantly at him.

"Er, do you mind, professor?" Harry turned to McGonagall.

"Not at all." she answered and headed for a table to drink something (there wasn't much of a choice – she could only choose from a dozen types of teas.)

"Nice ball, isn't it?" Tatyana asked Harry after a couple minutes of silent dancing.

"Yeah, nice." he replied as they waltzed through the dance floor.

"Why do I have the feeling that you do not find me sympathetic?" she asked.

"What gives you that idea?"

"Well, you haven't talked to me more than two words yet."

"I thought you weren't the talkative type." he shrugged.

"Oh, it's unbearably hot in here, don't you think?" she wiped her forehead. "Why don't we go out into the entrance hall? It's much cooler out there."

Harry didn't feel like going with her, but he thought it'd be rude to turn her down. "All right, then."

They exited the great hall to find themselves in a totally modified entrance hall. It was the spitting image of a Japanese garden with blooming cherry trees, a little creek with a small wooden bridge over it and a tiny pavilion bathing in the artificial Moon's light. It was a magic night – warm, but not too hot, fragrant and balmy.

"That's really beautiful." he said admiringly. "Japanese spring in here, while it's Russian winter out there." 

"Shall we sit down?" she pointed at a bench next to the small brook. 

"So, how long have you been teaching at Durmstrang?" he asked, sitting down. He simply had no better idea to start a conversation with. 

"Oh… quite long. Really. I would not like to tell you… or you'd know how old I am." she said with a timid smile.

"Old?" he blinked. "You look young and pretty. Twenty-five, at most."

"That's flattering, Harry." she slipped closer to him. "If you don't mind that I call you Harry, that is."

"Well… you're the lady here. It's your privilege to start calling me by me first name. May I also call you just Tatyana instead of Tatyana Fiodrovna? It's a bit long, you know."

"Of course you may." she beamed at him. "Shall we drink something?"

"Ah, rather not." he waved. "There's only tea."

"We could drink something better, then." she winked at him, making a flip with her wand, conjuring two goblets full of some orange liquid.

"What is this called?"

"I call it Dazzle-cocktail." she grinned. "Go on, drink it."

Harry was just about to take a first sip of the cocktail when he heard two familiar voices from behind the bushes, coming from the small pavilion.

__

"I don't understand why you wanted to meet me here, Mr. Dumbledore."

"Please, sit down, sweet Minerva."

"We are not _on first-name-terms."_ her cold voice replied.

__

"But we could be."

"Could be?"

"_Yes."_ the man's voice said very gently. "_Don't you think we could bury the hatchet… it's Christmas, after all…"_

"Er… all right. But only because it's Christmas."

"Thank you so much, dear Minerva!"

"Stop it!" she said irritably. "_Let go of my hands, please!"_

"Why?" he asked incredibly gently.

"_Just stop it_." she demanded.

"_You are trembling."_

"It's cold out here."

"It's warm out here. I feel rather warm…" he whispered and must have done something that made McGonagall yelp: "_How do you dare that, you ridiculous clown?"_

"You like me because I'm a ridiculous clown."

"I happen to like considerate men." she snapped.

__

"I am a considerate man."

"_No, you aren't, mmmm_…" there was a silence for about half a minute. "_Oh… ooooh… how dare you_?" she shrieked and stormed out of the pavilion.

"_Minnie, wait, you haven't even told me whether you liked my present or not_!" Aberforth yelled after her.

"_No!_" she shouted back and disappeared out of sight.

"Just like kids." Harry shook his head, grinning. "Ridiculous."

"Yep." Tatyana smiled. "However, they look such a cute couple, don't they?"

"Maybe. But aren't they too old…?"

"You can _never _be too old to love someone, Harry." she said, lifting her goblet. "Let's drink to Aberforth Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall. May they be happy together."

Though Harry had serious misgivings about Aberforth and McGonagall ever being happy together, he drank to them.

"Really delicious, this Dazzle…" he muttered. The flavour of the cocktail made him have a strange sense of déjá vu. When and where had he drunk such a drink? He couldn't ponder this, because he started to feel dizzy. His vision blurred, then cleared again. "Ginny?"

****

A/N2: she's doing it again! Why? That will be revealed later. 

To X_Tow_Naga: see, I've made Harry be chatty! No sexism! 

One of my Russian reviewers told me that the Russians didn't give each other presents at Christmas – they do it at New Year.

The title is deliberately written with a wrong spelling, it's supposed to be samovar.


	22. Stupid Cupid

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A/N: first of all: samovar is a typical Russian metal container in which you boil water for making tea. The other thing: many of you have asked why I wrote the title as someovar. Well, it has nothing to do with ovary or anything, LOL:) I changed 'sam' into 'some', meaning that Krum got SOME samovars (and I joined the words 'some' and 'samovar'.) That's all.

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Mabel Weasley: you'll get to know everything in time, I promise. Anna won't keep her mouth shut, of course.

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LupinsLover: Russian Muggles may use electric kettles, but you know that in Hogwarts electric things don't work. I supposed that such things don't work at Durmstrang as well. Oh, you love Harry? I thought you loved Lupin :))

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Bucky: no, there are no vampires in the story at all. I repelled all flashes of green light with my lightsaber, don't worry :)

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X_Tow_Naga: yes, we call the hard drive Winchester in Hungary. I always thought we have taken that word from the Americans… but it seems that it's not true. Don't worry, you'll see the good old pogrebings once more. Yes, McRice is a rip off on McDonalds :) I thought it was funny. I didn't even think of the no-sex-over-Christmas-prediction… funny idea, but it is going to be left out. No, Harry isn't playing Quidditch for the time being, but in chapter 2 I mentioned that he had agreed to play in Puddlemere United from next summer. So yes, he'll play Quidditch, but there will be no matches in this story. In the next one – maybe :) I guess Krum got things from other people at New Year, but from the Hogwarts folks he got presents at the Orthodox Christmas. I don't think that ghosts can have sex, but they can be attracted to living people (or other ghosts) – remember Moaning Myrtle pining over Harry. About Herm's hair potion – I only used the one that Rowling used. Why a Japanese garden? Because it's so charming – at least I think so. I always loved looking at pictures of Japanese gardens – they are lovely and romantic. I did not want a miniature Eiffel-tower or a replica of the Trafalgar Square, because they aren't exotic. Japanese gardens are. 

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STARGIRL: yes, English is my second language, so there have been and will be grammatical and spelling mistakes, sorry. I only learnt English at school – I haven't even been to an English-speaking country. 

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Lady Schezar: no hints, sorry. You'll get to know soon.

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Tessa: of course you may call me Agi. All of my friends call me Agi – truth be told I don't like to be called Agnes, because I think it's too serious for me :) No, Tatyana doesn't love Harry – she never said she did. She said she did this out of love, but that doesn't mean that she does it out of love _for Harry_. You'll see a bit of Fred/George in chapter 25, and more of them from chapter 28.

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K.C. Hunter: I love it how you – and most of the people – think that Mileta is evil. No, in fact she isn't. She's just a spoiled little brat, but not really evil.

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Mage: of course. Later.

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veronik: later, later, later… in a couple of chapters. Oh, you misspelled system – you wrote it as sistem (I just thought I'd point it out for you, I hope you don't mind).

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star queen: I agree, Han/Leia was much better (and funnier) than Anakin/Padme. I loved it when Leia said: 'I love you'. And Han replied: 'I know.' Then Han: 'I love you.' Leia: 'I know.' It was soooo much better than all the fluff in AotC!

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PadmeSkywalker: I wanted to send you a mail asking something in Latin, but I couldn't find your email-address. Please write me your address in your next review or send me a mail, okay? This is important! Thanks.

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aurora riddle: yes, Ani and Ami get married at the end. Count Dooku cuts off Anakin's hand. When I saw it at first I didn't dare to believe it! Your SW theory isn't that bad at all… but I don't think that we'll actually see Padme die, because in RotJ Leia says that she remembers her mother, thus she had to be at least 2 years old when Padme died – and it's quite impossible that episode three has a time span of about three years – IMHO. All SW films have a time span of a couple of weeks, at most. No more. I didn't write what Herm gave for Harry because it wasn't important – must have been a book (what else?) You asked some vocabulary, so here we go: 'myriad' = (literary) too many to count, for example: myriad bright starts shone in the sky above. 'ethereal' = very delicate and light, in a way that does not seem real. (I took the explanations from my Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English). I guess I have too big a vocab for a second language :)) Or I just read too many books in English, I don't know. Feel free to ask words you don't know. In this chapter your wish will be fulfilled – partly.

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blaubaerin: no, Mileta isn't planning to give anything to Harry… I don't understand, why do all of you people think that she'd so evil??? She isn't - you'll see. She's just spoiled and nasty, but NOT evil. The Grim is the English name of the large ghost dog that haunts churchyards – prof Trelawney keeps predicting for Harry that he'll see the Grim and die. Really, what is the German word for the Grim? Hermione's hairdo was a bit like that of Empress Elisabeth (wife of Franz Joseph) at many pictures: most of her hair was let down, but a braid of it was fastened circularly to her head to look like a small crown. It's a bit difficult to explain it like that… get a picture of Sissy and you'll see :) 'carillon' = a set of bells in a tower that are controlled from a piano keyboard, or (in my fic's case) the tune played on these bells. (Longman Dictionary). Oh, so you are a tea worshipper? One of my friends is also one – she even talked me into going to a teahouse, but I found it rather boring and I don't really like teas. The only tea I really liked was a caramel flavoured one – it was cool! Otherwise my friend hasn't managed to turn me into a tea-lover, and she'll never succeed :) I simply love Japanese gardens, because they are exotic, that's why I put that into the story. No, Tatyana does not need super semen, but something else :)))

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LisaQT3: I DO think that Harry is damn sexy! :))))) 

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Almah: concentrated boggarts were cute, but not too scary. I loved the dragons, though :)

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Harrysgirl: thank you, my friend :)

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Aimee: sorry for having mispelled your name!

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Moony Lover: no, Tatyana's lost love isn't Krum. Okay, I tell you the secret about Anakin: the tuskens (sand people) capture and torture his mother, she dies in her son's arms and Anakin kills all the tuskens – not only the men, but the women and the children as well. It is not really shown in the movie, but as he tells it to Padme… it's heart-wrenching! Yoda fights with a light-saber, and he's the best dueller in the galaxy! I haven't been on a plane yet, either. When you are already in Spain, tell me about it, okay? Did you mean bilestone? Or appendicitis? Because they are really different things – though both of them hurts a lot. Bilestones are more common for men, but both men and women can have appendicitis. 

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Kat: it's always nice to have new readers, so welcome! 

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Super saya-Jin Gotan: when am I going to stop torturing Harry? Um… I have just begun…

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teacherchez: no, Tatyana is no relative of Voldie, neither was she in love with James. I also think that Kenneth Branagh will suck as Gilderoy. Hugh Grant would have been cool, though :( Aberforth kissed Minerva.

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spangle*star: how could Remus love Minerva? She could be his mother! :))

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LilGinny: no, Tatyana is no desperate sex maniac :) 39 chapters long. The next one won't focus on Lily, but she'll have more of a role than in TGSoHH and this fic. Yes, SW was really good – much better than EP1.

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jeanine23Dr: you asked what kind of music I liked. Well, you will be surprised, but I love Johann Strauss (19th century Austrian composer, the so called 'King of waltzes'.) And of course I love John Williams and all his film scores (especially the HP score and the SW score). 

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Notebook Girl: no, she does not want to turn young.

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Katie Bell: I'm sure that Krum would be delighted to give you one of his samovars :)

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thebiggesthpfan: I've been wondering where you have been :) Nice to see you again.

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Crazycutee831: the longest review for the story is almost twice as long as your last one. There are other teachers at Hogwarts who aren't insect-looking or 80 years old (at least I think so). SW was good, 9 out of 10. I liked the HP movie, though there were serious mistakes: for example Hermione uttering Voldemort's name. The centaur looked terrible! I didn't really like Herm in the movie – she was downright irritating, but I loved Ron, Hagrid and Snape. Harry was of course just joking about his inner eye. When will I reveal the reason for Tatyana making Harry sleep with her? In chapter… 28, I guess, but there will be bits of information earlier. The climax of the story? Dunno… there will be quite a couple of 'climaxes'… and there will be big-bangs and nasty cliffies as well. Sorry… How many guys read my fic? You mean males? Well… 6 or 7 (that I know of. But there might be more.) I don't know whether I'll write more HP fics after the third one… but I'm quite sure that I won't write SW fics. 

Also thanks to: _Lupin's Angel, PepsiAngel, Alexander Pheonix, Cassandra Anthemyst, AmandaPanda, princesswitch, Qahira Galatea, Blondie in Disguise, zzxm, Kit Cloudkicker, goldenstar555, Saphron, HerbieWerbie, phoenix6545 (good to see you again!), Coolio, Evil Monkeys Abuser, Sherylyn, howler109, Ari Potter,VeRyWiLdWiTcH, Lavendar Brown, Gryffie, apple-pie (I hope I didn't forget anyone!) _

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Chapter 22

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Stupid Cupid

At about four o'clock in the morning Hermione was awoken by the feeling of being watched.

She didn't need to turn on the lights or even say _Lumos_, because she could clearly see a pearly-white ghost hovering above her bed.

"Who… are… you?" she rubbed her eyes.

"My name is Anna Karenina." the ghost replied.

"And to what do I owe the honour of your visit, Ms. Karenina?"

"I'm here to warn you."

"To warn me? Against what?" Hermione yawned. "Is the ghost of Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov about to attack me with his axe?"

"No." Anna shook her pretty head. "Raskolnikov's ghost doesn't haunt here. It haunts another castle, as far as I know. But… that's not what I wanted to tell you."

"What then?" Hermione sat up unwillingly. She was annoyed that this mad ghost interrupted her sleep – she had had such a beautiful dream about herself and Ron reconciling!

"It's about your friend, Harry." Anna said. "He is in terrible danger. At least I think so."

"What danger?"

"Someone is… seducing him."

"Seducing?" Hermione laughed. "Oh, what a terrible danger! _Really_."

"It's no laughing matter." Karenina replied seriously. "He is truly in danger."

"Yeah, in danger of getting punched by Viktor again for kissing his sister." Hermione grinned.

"You are mistaken." Anna declared. "It's not Mileta Krum who is seducing him. She would like to, of course, but it's not her."

"Who, then?"

"Natasha Yanska."

"Who?" Hermione blinked. She didn't remember even hearing of a Natasha Yanska before. Or did she?

"The Potions teacher." Anna said.

"But her name is Tatyana Fiodrovna." Hermione reasoned.

"Yes." the ghost sighed. "And her others names were Olga Yevetha, Svetlana Radovna, Sonya Semyonovna, and so on. You could mention a hundred names at least."

"How do you know this?" Hermione frowned.

"I'm dead." Anna answered. "As a ghost I have the ability of travelling back in time. As you might know, all ghosts can travel back in time until the day they were born. But not before it. I was born in 1863, so I have gone back until then and saw myself being born, growing up… it was funny, really. And I saw this Tatyana as well."

"But… how? She cannot be that old, can she?"

"No, her body is just twenty-eight years old, I guess. But her soul is much older than mine. She – her soul – has been reincarnating for centuries, I guess… it's strange, you know. Only a possessed spirit, that wants something so terribly that it drives it crazy, can reincarnate for so many times… until it reaches its aim."

"What do you mean?" Hermione started to get really worried.

"I mean that I think this woman wants to reach a goal… she has wanted it for centuries, and not reaching it made her spirit obsessed, made it possess the bodies of newly born girls over and over and over the centuries… until in one life she succeeds in what she wants."

"Do you think that it is _this_ life in which she is likely to reach that aim of hers?"

"I don't know." Anna shrugged. "But I have seen her with your friend twice… she bewitched him with a potion… made him believe that she was his wife."

"Ginny?"

"Yeah, he might have said that name…" the ghost nodded. "One thing is sure: now Harry Potter is sleeping beside her, after an exhausting lovemaking session."

"No!" Hermione breathed.

"Yes!" Karenina replied. "I know voyeurism isn't nice, but… hell, I was interested! And now I'm desperate! That woman is trying to do something terrible to Harry!"

"But… she just slept with him, didn't she?"

"No, she didn't sleep at all. After he fell asleep she took her wand and started muttering Latin words which I didn't understand… but I think she was hypnotising him in his sleep... maybe to make him forget what had happened, because then he answered with 'yes', though I'm sure he was asleep… and that's still not everything…"

"What else?" Hermione groaned.

"She muttered an incantation when… when he…" Karenina leaned closer, as though not wanting to speak aloud, "…reached the climax."

"The… oh my!" Hermione sighed, putting her face into her hands. "Are you sure about all these?"

"Positive. I can't have hallucinated, you know… I'm a ghost… cannot drink alcohol and cannot take drugs."

"Why do you think this woman is doing it to Harry?"

"No idea. But it's really fishy. She is up to something, that woman, I tell you."

"I'm going to find it out." Hermione said resolutely. "You can bet I will find it out and stop her hurting Harry."

"Glad to hear." Anna smiled at her and vanished.

* * * * *

Harry awoke in his bed at nine o'clock. He was slightly dizzy and had a funny feeling of having been run over by a steamroller. All he could remember of was having danced with McGonagall, then having heard her quarrelling with Aberforth. But there was Tatyana as well… they had been dancing, then walking a bit in the Japanese garden, then… he headed up to his room because he felt so tired. Yeah, that was it. He was tired. Strangely weak. He hadn't felt that weak since his illness.

"Oh, get a grip, Potter… this must be a hangover, nothing else." he muttered to himself. "But… there was just tea…" he mused as he reached for his pants. "Krum must have put some vodka into it."

After having managed to dress up (this morning even dressing up felt like a difficult exercise), he decided to have breakfast and ask Dennis how his date with Mileta turned out.

However, he didn't even have a chance to reach the staircase because he met with an extremely tired-looking and upset Ms Krum.

"Good morning, Mileta." he gave her a faint smile. "Tired after this night, huh?"

"Yeah." she said with a cold voice, "But my night wasn't by far as tiring as yours, was it?"

He frowned. "I'm afraid I don't understand you, Mileta."

"Don't understand, huh?" she crossed her arms. "No need pretending, Harry, I've seen what I've seen and heard what I heard."

"What have you seen and heard?" he asked.

"You. With professor Fiodrovna!"

"And? What's the matter with it?"

"What?" she burst out. "Have you no shame?"

"I really don't understand you."

"Hah! Do I look totally crazy?" she snapped, advancing on him. "You made it clear for me that you had no desire for a relationship with me… but up till now I thought it was because you wanted to remain faithful to your wife, and I have learnt to respect that, but now… I despise you! It's disgusting!"

"Disgusting? What, for heaven's sake?!?"

"You! Shagging my potions teacher!" tears welled up in her eyes as she said that.

"WHAT?" he yelled. "You've drunk too much, Mileta!"

"Drunk? There was only tea!" she retorted. "I saw you leave the entrance hall with her! I shook off Creevey and followed you… saw you enter her room… you were walking hand in hand, of course…" she added with a grimace. "Then I stayed before her room. No one asked me why I was standing there, because everyone was down in the great hall, having fun. And I heard that you and the professor were also having _fun_!" she spat the last word.

"What on Earth did you hear?" Harry furrowed his brow.

"Moans. Screams. Ooooohs and aaaaahs. And you know, I'm sure you two weren't doing push-ups."

"I have no idea what you are talking about, Mileta." he replied seriously.

"NO?" she burst out. "You are really pathetic liar, Harry Potter! And just to inform you: I'm not a bit worse than she is!" Mileta sniffed. "Oh, yes, just one more thing…" she slapped him in the face and hurried off.

Harry just shook his head in disbelief, massaging his sore cheek. *I would never have thought that she'd tell such downright lies just because I've hurt her pride.*

From that day on Mileta did not speak to Harry, to his great relief. He was in the firm belief that the girl had taken drugs and had been hallucinating at the Yule ball – or she had simply made up this 'Tatyana-stuff' to annoy him. Knowing her, he wouldn't put anything past her…

He was surprised to notice that Hermione started spending more time with him than ever before. There was practically no time when she let him out of her sight. Harry put this down to her more than delicate affair with Viktor Krum. Since Ron had accused her of having cheated on him with Viktor, she seemed to be avoiding the Durmstrang headmaster whenever she could.

One day, when Harry asked her about going home for Ron's birthday in one month, she clearly asserted that she did not think he was worthy of her visit at all.

"Stupid, short-sighted git!" she snapped. "I'm definitely not going to visit him. I might send him a Happy birthday card, but that's all. He hasn't even bothered to ask for my forgiveness since I left! Not a single bloody owl! He does not deserve me!" Harry thought he saw tears in her eyes, but he might have been imagining it. However, lately she seemed much more sensitive than before. Harry was sure that her row with Ron was still seriously troubling her and she would happily run into his arms, but she was too proud to admit it.

In that short time that she didn't spend with Harry, Hermione was poring over books in the library or playing the chaperone for Minerva, who – since the Christmas event – seemed to have developed something more than loathing for Aberforth.

On the other hand, the second task was about to come soon and – despite his funny feeling of physical weakness - Harry happily threw himself into the preparatory works. At first all he knew about it was that the champions needed to go down into an ice-cave under the Durmstrang grounds, but later Aberforth filled him in on the details of the task.

* * * * *

One February morning Harry awoke with the feeling that something was about to happen that day. While dressing up, he persuaded himself that he was imagining things and nothing bad would happen at all.

When he reached down to the great hall, the first thing that struck him was that he hadn't been right. Everywhere he looked, he saw pink ribbons hanging from the ceiling, along with huge red hearts.

It was Valentine's Day. That in itself was enough to spoil Harry's day.

"Hello, kid!" Aberforth waved from the staff table. Harry crossed the hall, not hearing many girls snickering at the tables he passed by.

"Good morning, Aberforth." Harry sat down next to him. "You look particularly cheery today."

"Of course I do! It's Valentine's Day!" he smirked. "The coolest day of the year!"

"Are you related to Gilderoy Lockhart by any chance?" Harry asked, stirring his cocoa with a wry face.

"Lockhart? Er, no. Should I be?"

"No. Just… he also likes Valentine's Day. He organised a message-carrier service at Hogwarts… dwarves were the postmen. They looked horrible with wings and golden harps."

"I bet they did. However, Durmstrang does not need dwarves to carry love-letters. We have better than that."

"Oh, not pogrebins, are they?" Harry gasped.

"No." Aberforth shook his head. "Fairies."

"You mean pixies?"

"No, I mean fairies. As I heard it was professor Fiodrovna who hired them to do the show for us today. She is not only a great potions master, but a great friend of magical creatures, as well." the old man said, pointing at the door. "Look."

A dozen of small, stunningly white things whooshed into the hall – although they were about the same size as pixies, they did not look a thing like them. Fairies looked like small human replicas and their genders were easily distinguishable. The females had brilliant, long, golden hair, sky-blue eyes and small, translucent wings. They were dressed in robes that sparkled as though they had been made of ice or snow.

"You want to watch out for the males." Dumbledore said.

"Why?" Harry asked. Nothing seemed to be dangerous about the male fairies: they had shorter golden hair, white knickerbockers and white shirts.

"Because some of them not only carry letters, but bows and arrows as well." the old man said.

"You don't mean they shoot you and make you fall in love with someone?"

"That's exactly what I meant." Aberforth replied, munching a big chunk of toast. "'Course the effect of those arrows do not last longer than a couple of hours, but it's enough for young people to get themselves into trouble, you know… an arrow from one of these, and you'll find yourself being father to a child whose mother you had never seen before Valentine's Day. Dangerous little beasts… watch out!" he grabbed Harry's shoulder and pushed him under the table. An arrow hit the wall right where Harry's head had been a second earlier.

"Thanks." Harry heaved a sigh, crouching under the table. "That was a close one. Really, who do you fall in love with if you get hit by an arrow?"

"The first person you see of the opposite sex." Aberforth replied, peering out from under the table. "The coast is clear."

They both heaved themselves back onto their chairs to finish breakfast. 

"Hermione's coming." Harry said. "She seems normal, so I guess she hasn't been hit by an arrow yet. Oh hi, Herm. How are you?"

"Not well." she said bitterly.

"Why? I thought you loved Valentine's Day."

"Not even Lockhart would love it after not having received anything from his love." she said with a sigh and sat down.

"I haven't got anything from Ginny as well." Harry pointed out. "Oh!" he slapped his forehead. "I must send her something! I'll be back in a minute!" he jumped up and ran off.

"Hermione, duck!" Abeforth yelled and pulled her under the table as another arrow whooshed through the air.

"Ah, that too!" she sighed. "I hate Valentine's Day!"

"Does that mean that you aren't entering the kissing contest?" Dumbledore winked at her.

"Kissing contest?"

"Yeah. Couples will have to kiss for ten minutes without stopping, and a jury will tell which kiss was the most beautiful… or funniest." he grinned. "The winning couple gets a two-person broomstick, so I heard."

"Whose stupid idea was this contest?" Hermione frowned.

"Madame Maxime's I guess. Or at least the idea came from Beauxbatons."

"Oh, sure." Hermione rolled her eyes. "French people, French kisses…"

* * * * *

Harry raced up to the owlery to write a letter to his beloved Ginny. Since Hubert had already left, he needed to use one of the school owls.

He sat down on the window-sill and started to compose a letter.

"Well… what should I write? That I love her? She already knows that…" Harry mused. "A poem, maybe? Well, I haven't written her any yet, so… let's see…

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When I look into your eyes,

I see golden rays of sun

Glittering on snow and ice,

Bringing me all joys and fun.

When I feel your lips on mine,

I would like to dance and sing,

You are moonlight, you're sunshine,

You make my spirit take wing.

Though I'm far away from you,

My heart and soul are by yours,

I know that you feel this too –

Love is the mightiest force.

Harry put down his quill and told himself that for his very first attempt at a poem it wasn't bad at all.

He attached the letter to a screech owl's leg and headed downstairs.

At the bottom of the stairs he heard several squeaky voices call his name. He turned around to see at least twenty female fairies, all flying in his direction, waving with envelopes.

*Oh, not that again!* he groaned inwardly.

"Mail to Harry Potter!" the fairies squeaked in unison, showering him with a bunch of pink letters, then left.

"Just great." he growled, standing in a heap of envelopes. He flicked his wand to make all the letters jump into his hand, but nothing happened. "Malfunctioning, are you?" he sighed. Mileta Krum hurried past him, casting a despising look at him as he crouched down to pick up the envelopes.

"May I help?" Tatyana Fiodrovna stepped to him, and didn't even wait for him to say 'no' – she started gathering the letters, handing them in bunches to Harry.

"Forty-seven. Not bad." she remarked.

"I don't believe… I beat Lockhart!" he muttered, not feeling a bit pleased.

"Lockhart?"

"Never m… Ouch!" Harry yelled as he felt something hit him on the shoulder. He reached out to massage it as a madly cackling archer fairy whooshed across the corridor, up the staircase. "Stupid cupid!" Harry growled, feeling funny – light-headed… it was a bit like when being hit by the _Imperio _curse – he felt floating, devoid of all concerns… he felt… _in love_.

"All right, Harry?" Tatyana asked with a smile.

"Yeah… totally… all right…" he mumbled. "Oh, Tatyana, you're so beautiful!"

"Am I?" she smiled.

"I… I love you." he stammered.

"Love me?" she stepped closer to him to caress his face. "Do you want to make love to me, Harry?"

"Oh, I doooo." he sighed.

"Come, then." she took him by the hand to lead him upstairs, when a furious-looking Mrs. Weasley burst out of the great hall.

"Stop where you are!" she demanded.

"Hermione?" Harry cast a bemused glance at her. She knew immediately that he was not all there.

"I need to talk to you." she said.

"Right now?" he groaned, clutching Tatyana's hand even tighter.

"Yes. RIGHT NOW." Hermione sounded peremptory.

"I'll wait for you in my room. Western tower, second floor, door 6." the Potions teacher said sweetly and watched Harry enter the hall with Hermione. "You are going to pay for this, Weasley." she whispered, her eyes becoming slits. "You won't ruin my little game with Potter!"

There was a sound of whoosh in the air and the fairy who had shot Harry, flew to professor Fiodrovna.

"What are you doing here? Where's the guy? The magic won't last long!"

"I know, you little fool!" she snapped. "But that Weasley intervened. She plays the chaperone, not letting Potter out of her sight for a single minute!"

"Should I ask one of my colleagues to shoot her, too?" the fairy suggested. "She could end up in bed with the headmaster and you could end up in bed with The Boy Who Lived."

"Excellent idea, my little accomplice." Tatyana grinned. "Go on, do it!"

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Harry asked, feeling dizzy. His unsatisfied desire for Tatyana was driving him crazy. 

"I wanted to ask you about…" Hermione began, searching for something to ask. "Where's Viktor, have you seen him?"

"There." Harry pointed at Krum, seriously doubting that she only wanted to ask him where Krum was.

"Oh, I see him." Hermione said, suddenly feeling dizzy. "Have I also been hit?" she mumbled, falling into Harry's arms, unconscious. In the next instance professor McGonagall cried out, furiously massaging her butt, where one of the mischievous little cupids had shot her. 

"I'll get you for this, you…!"

"Calm down, Minerva, dear." Aberforth stepped to her.

"Oh, leave me alone, you…" she turned around, then gasped, putting her hands on her chest. "Oh, Aberforth! I'm so happy to see you! Please, forgive me for having treated you so badly all along! Will you ever forgive me?"

"Well…" Dumbledore grinned. "I might… if you kiss me."

McGonagall fell on his neck, sticking her lips to his.

"Eeeeewwww." some of the students wrinkled their noses. 

Meanwhile, Harry was feeling like running off with Tatyana, but no matter how deep his desire for her was, his worry for his sister-in-law was greater. He was desperately trying to make Hermione come round.

"Hey…" he patted her face gently. She was as white as a sheet and didn't show a sign of coming round. "_Enervate_." Harry flicked his wand.

Hermione opened her eyes, blinked and looked around. "What happened?"

"You fainted, Herm." Harry said, seating her on a chair. "Feeling better?"

"Guess so." she muttered. "I thought I was hit by an arrow."

"No, you weren't." he replied. "McGonagall was, though."

"Minerva?" Hermione gasped.

"Yeah. Look."

She turned around to see the aloof and dignified professor McGonagall madly snogging with Albus' mad brother. "Oh, no."

"Yes." Harry replied. "If only I could kiss Tatyana…" he added with a longing sigh.

"Listen to me, Harry." she took his hands into hers. "Avoid that woman. She is up to no good."

"She's a Marauder, then?" he joked.

"No, Harry. She is really, really bad." Hermione said. "Believe me. And also believe me that you do not love her. It's just the temporary effect of the Cupid's arrow. In a couple of hours it will be over… just like with Minerva." she sighed. "I don't dare imagine what she'll do when she realises what she has done… she might go off committing suicide."

"I'll also commit suicide if I can't be with Tatyana right now!" Harry burst out. "I'm going to find her!"

"No!" she shouted.

"You can't stop me!" he yelled and ran out of the hall. Hermione hurried after him, and shouted _"Petrificus totalus!" _on the empty corridor.

Harry fell to the ground.

"I'm so sorry, Harry. I had to do this. In your interest." she whispered to him, then looked around to see whether anyone had seen them, but to her greatest relief no one was around – everyone was in the Great Hall, gazing at the McGonagall-Dumbledore couple, who seemed to have a great chance for winning the day's kissing contest.

* * * * *

"You are sacked!" professor Fiodrovna shouted at the leader of the fairies. "All of you!"

"But… mistress…!"

"You could not accomplish a simple task like this? You had to shoot McGonagall instead of Weasley?"

"I aimed at Weasley at the second she looked at Krum… she was still standing then, but in the next second she fainted and my arrow whooshed through the air where she had been, hitting the old wench instead." one of the male fairies said. "Wasn't my fault!"

"Get – out – of – my – sight!" Tatyana shouted at them.

* * * * *

A couple of hours later Harry awoke in his bed, feeling extremely stupid. He tried to remember what happened – and his memories made him feel deeply ashamed.

"Heavens! I almost shagged that woman!" he sighed. "What got into me?"

"You were bewitched." a voice said.

"Anna! Is it you?" he demanded irritably.

Anna Karenina's ghostly form appeared out of nowhere. "Yeah. That's me. You don't need to accuse yourself – your were bewitched by the Cupid's arrow… your were shot on Tatyana's orders."

"What?" he blinked.

"She ordered the fairies to shoot you so she could sleep with you." Anna replied.

"Oh. And do you expect me to believe you?" he crossed his arms.

"Why wouldn't you believe me?"

"Because you're jealous. You fancy me and make up stories to make me hate other women." Mileta had done the same, hadn't she?, he added in thought. He was sure that Tatyana had also been hit by an arrow – or she wouldn't have wanted to sleep with him – would she?

"No!" she yelled. "I only wanted to warn you, Harry."

"Warn me?"

"Yes. Tatyana is evil."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Stop this 'Tatyana is evil stuff', will you? It was enough to hear from Hermione. Now get out of my room, I want to change into pyjamas."

"Can't I stay and watch?" she pleaded.

"Hell, no!" he snapped. 

"Don't be so shy, Harry, I've seen you starkers before."

"Worse than Myrtle." Harry muttered. "If you have seen me that way before, why do you want to stay?"

"Because… I liked what I saw." she grinned.

"Great. Just great. Durmstrang is a peepshow and I'm the one who does the striptease… to a ghost! Really, don't you ghosts have anything better to do than watch people while they dress?"

"But of course!"

"What?"

"To watch them as they take a shower." she replied. "But you are right, there are other things to watch as well: for example there was the kissing contest today."

"The kissing contest?" Harry suddenly remembered Minerva and Aberforth. "What happened to professor McGonagall, do you know? Is she still under the effect of…?"

"No." Anna laughed heartily. "She is in the hospital wing right now… had to be given sedatives to calm down. She was hysteric when she came to her senses and realised that she had… well, you know… she couldn't be cheered up at all… not even by being told that she had won the prize."

"And Aberforth?"

"He is also in the hospital wing… the nurse had to fix his broken arm and leg."

* * * * *

Hermione was lying in her bed, tears coursing down her cheeks. She was watching the stripes of moonlight on the ceiling, not being able to think of anything or anyone else but Ron.

It was Valentine's Day and he didn't even bother to send her a note. She did not desire to get jewellery or bouquets or big heart-shaped balloons… all she wanted was to receive a single line of three words: '_I love you'_.

She punched her pillow with her fists, reaching out for a tissue to blow her nose. "I'm not going to cry because of you, Ronald Weasley." she muttered. She forced herself to think of something else: of McGonagall pummeling Aberforth, of herself saving Harry from that woman's clutches, of herself fainting…

Suddenly she sat up, snatched her wand and rekindled the candles. By the light of the candles she started rummaging around in her drawers, desperately trying to find something… a tiny calendar. In the last one and a half months she had been so angry with Ron and so worried about Harry that she didn't care for herself at all. It hadn't even occurred to her to think that…

She took the calendar into her trembling hands and started counting: 28… 40… 58.

"Holy heavens." she gulped. "Could it be…?"

She grabbed her wand, took a deep breath and pointed the tip of it to her stomach.

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"Profero graviditas."

Suddenly the wand emitted two little sparks that started to grow, glowing, circling around each other like twin suns.

Hermione sat down on the sofa, gazing at the two little lights, dazed. 

She was going to be a mother… of two.

****

A/N: I must admit that I wrote this chapter back on Valentine's Day. Originally I didn't want to include anything about Valentine's Day, but that day I was in the mood to write fluffy and silly stuff like this.

Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov is the axe-man from Crime and punishment.

In Fantastic Beasts and where to find them Rowling writes that fairies are mute, but I needed them to be able to speak.

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Profero graviditas means 'to reveal the pregnancy' (or something like that, I took it from a dictionary, I still don't speak Latin).

Before any of you (especially my thorough friend, X_Tow_Naga) goes into counting the days in Hermione's calendar, let me clear it up: I decided that she got pregnant on the 1st January, when she was in the middle of her cycle (about 13-14 days after the beginning of her previous period). From 1st January to 14th February there are 45 days, and I added those 13 days to it, so I got 58. I hope this a satisfying explanation (especially for the male readers who surely know less about this than the females :)


	23. Kinder Surprise

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A/N: thanks for notifying me about the chapter-switch, but I already noticed it when I uploaded the last chapter. The switch wasn't done by me – at least I don't think so. It might have happened when I replaced the content of chapter 18 with a slightly modified content, I don't know. Anyway, I didn't dare try and replace the contents of chapters one and two, so I put a note at the end of TGSoHH, telling the possible new readers that they should start TGSaWCS with chapter 2, then read chapter 1. Yesterday I read HerbieWerbie's review (thank you so much, HerbieWerbie!) and in there she told me what to do. I did it – I guess it's okay now.

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The Face of Evil: no, Tatyana is no lust demon. I haven't even heard of lust demons before :)

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VeRyWiLdWiTcH: it's not necessary that Hermione's mom has a twin… twins can prop up in every family, without the family having other twins (but of course in the case of Star Wars it is genetic: Padme is likely to have a twin, Leia has a twin-brother and Leia also has twin-kids… but those are fraternal twins, not identical. Well, never mind :)

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Nefertiri: congrats on breaking the record, you're the writer of the longest review now! Anna Karenina just finds Harry sexy, but she isn't really in love with him. Harry didn't look into the crystal, just bought those tealeaves on instinct, and he was joking when Hermione asked him about seeing the future. IMHO no one knew that Krum needed a new samovar, but I thought it'd be funny if everyone wanted to buy him one – samovars are typical Russian stuff and they are in Russia… so why not? I'll be back to Fred/George/Angie, later. Angelina is 4 months pregnant now, and yes, you'll see the baby in this story. For the time being Ron kind of believes that Hermione cheated on him – though he isn't sure. However, you know him: he wouldn't admit that he was wrong (of course he'll have to do so in the future, but not right now.) Remember how outraged he was at the Yule ball in book 4, when Herm was with Krum – and they were just dancing! He accused her of collaborating with the enemy and everything… stupid, stupid Ron :) Why does Dennis like Mileta? Hm… he has a bad taste :) Yes, McGonagall likes both Dumbledores, but in different ways. Yes, Albus still likes Mrs. Figg, but there won't be anything about them in this fic. Maybe in the third one :) How does Albus know everything? Hm… ask Rowling… How old are the people who read my fics? Most of them are 13-16, but I have received mails from 25 and 35 year-old people as well who have read it, and I was overjoyed that people who are older than me also like my stories. Yes, most of them are females, because the story has lots of romance in it, and even its main genre is romance. Well, the third story won't have the genre romance, that's for sure… I was happy to see that you didn't only write a long review, but you USED THE ENTER BUTTON! It was so much easier for me read than those long reviews where there are absolutely no Enters!

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Bucky: you'll see Gred and Forge again, I promise! And not only in one chapter, but in several :)

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blaubaerin: I don't think that Ginny notices anything on her ring right now, because Harry isn't in any kind of lethal danger. Later, however… you'll see :)

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Aimee: Tatyana doesn't necessarily get pregnant just because Harry is so potent – you'll see later that his potency is only that big when Ginny is concerned (and I'll explain why.) Did you like SW? Oh, I envy you that you're free for the summer! I still have 5 exams! *big sigh*

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X_Tow_Naga: no, Tatyana does not want a baby to love, remember that in chapter 8 she said that she didn't like children. On the other hand it has something to do with Harry going to the netherworld (or I wouldn't have mentioned that), but she really does not want to get pregnant. Yes, I made up the thing about the ghosts' time travel. Why can't ghosts take drugs? Remember book 2? There all the ghosts kept complaining that they couldn't eat or drink, because everything went through them without them being able to taste it. So I think that they cannot take drugs as well – at least not through their mouths. Given that their veins aren't working anymore, they can't take drugs that way, either. A charm to deflect arrows? Hm… that sounds like Star Wars, deflecting the laser-bolts with the lightsaber or the Force. I don't think that the students were in danger of getting pregnant from a teacher – hopefully the teachers were sane enough to resist a love-sick teenager (if they weren't shot, too, that is. Don't worry, no one got pregnant during Valentine's Day.) You asked why Harry couldn't resist Tatyana's potions and charms. Well, Tatyana got to know from Dennis that Harry couldn't be controlled by Imperio, so she looked for something else – something more potent. No, Aberforth wasn't hit by an arrow, he just took advantage of McGonagall… bad, bad Aby! There WERE voyeur ghosts at Hogwarts: remember Moaning Myrtle in the Prefect's Bathroom in book 4 (where she said that she didn't look at Harry as he undressed, but I never believed that she didn't :) No, the SUNS didn't refer to SONS. I just love this twin-sun-thing – you know, from Star Wars – Tatooine has twin suns. 

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jeanine23Dr: I promise you the opposites :) A fanclub for me? No, please! I'm way too shy for stuff like that… :))

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Kit Cloudkicker: yes.

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K. C. Hunter: you're right, it's Mrs. Karenina, not Ms. However, Harry and Hermione don't really know how to formulate the Russian names, so they made a mistake :) Good luck with your finals!

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Notebook Girl: no, Harry does not look like Tatyana's first love at all.

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! Cedric ! Diggory ! Fan !: I'm glad you like my fics so much. Yes, I know that I'm cruel to Harry… many people have told that that I'm a sadist :) Yes, go and watch the Star Wars movies, IMHO you should watch them in the order they came out, so did everyone else. (If you watched them in the numbered order, you'd miss film 3 very much, since it hasn't been filmed yet.) The original trilogy is better, but the new ones are okay as well. Maybe for you – who hasn't seen any of the movies yet – all five will be excellent. Watch them and tell me your opinion – which one was your favourite, etc. My fave is The Empire Strikes Back.

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Crazycutee831: may I ask how old you are? Because you wrote that you made fried chicken… I'm 21 and I can't cook at all! *the greatest shame, LOL* I was also annoyed that Harry's eyes weren't green in the movie. They could have made Dan Radcliffe wear contact lenses or they could have turned his eyes green by computer as well. Otherwise I think he's really cute. I didn't really care for how tall Ron was. I liked him, he was bloody brilliant! You asked which story I thought was better. Well, I like TGSoHH a bit more than this, but I worked more on TGSaWCS, so somehow I'm more attached to this one. When I wrote TGSoHH, I didn't plan anything in advance, I just wrote as I thought of something, but in this fic I planned most things well before I started writing at all. Still a lot of people say that this fic is boring, and I know that they are right: many chapters weren't really interesting, but they were still necessary. In TGSoHH there were no 'boring but necessary' chapters, IMHO. The real reason why I like that one better is that I didn't get flames for it, while I got a couple of rather nasty flames for this one. You know what flames are like: they make you insecure… sometimes I was on the verge of hating this fic and I'm still not sure how much I should like/dislike this one. I hope people won't really hate it (though there will be times when they'll hate ME.) I'm already prepared for the flames I'm going to get in a couple of chapters… I hope your chicken didn't burn :)

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Rose: no, I'm not getting up chapters faster than with TGSoHH, because with that I uploaded three chapters a week.

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aurora riddle: no, I haven't been to the States or Canada yet, and I'm not going to try for quite a while. The reason? Because Hungarian people aren't welcome there. We usually don't get visa because the Americans think that we (coming from a rather poor Eastern-European country) surely want to settle down there. I know a nice (and rich) couple who wanted to spend their honeymoon in the US and they didn't get the visa, just because they are Hungarians! I felt so sorry for them! Oh, so you have flown a plane? Great, I envy you! I'm glad you liked my poem, I love writing poems! Sorry, you haven't managed to break the record – the longest review up till now is three times this long. But you don't need to write such long reviews, I'm glad if people just drop a line :)

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Moony Lover: so, you are Andrea? My best friend in the primary school was also an Andrea :) Do I believe in reincarnation? Well… I kind of believe in it, but I don't really want to. It gives me the creeps to think that in my next life I could be born in the Middle-East or Africa, having nothing to eat and if I am born a girl there, I'll be treated terribly, having to wear such long, black clothes that only show your eyes… *shudder*. My mother's colleague believes in reincarnation and has learnt all kinds of occultism and once she studied my hands and said that in my former life I was a queen or princess because I have such delicate hands. I don't know whether to believe it or not… I'm Christian, and Christians mustn't believe in it because it's also occultism. I don't exclude the possibility of reincarnation, but I don't like the thought of it. No, Tatyana does not think that Harry is her true love. I'll come back to the secret chamber – very soon. Yes, Agnes is a female name and it's very popular here in Hungary. I'm glad you like my name :)

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Padfoot: so, does your friend also read this? :)) Is he/she a Seer? :))

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Steph: IMHO you pronounce the 'G' in 'Ginny' like the 'g' in the word 'general'. I hope I'm right, but you should rather ask a native English speaker. 

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One winged butterfly: no, McGonagall and Aberforth didn't have sex, they just snogged. For Minerva it's enough to get mad :)

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veronik: tell your friend that she should feel free to review me, she shouldn't be that shy. I'm also very shy but I send reviews to lots of people. Remind your friend that I'm never going to meet her, so she doesn't need to be afraid of me :))) I promise you that Hermione's children won't be squibs. You have my word.

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xenocide: I'm glad you liked the poem :) Originally I wrote the first two verses of it for a stupid, mushy Star Wars fic (the very first fic I wrote in English), and I just wrote a third verse to it so that it'd fit this story. Maybe Minerva wasn't looking in Harry's direction at all when the fairy's arrow hit her. Rowling wrote about fairies, but in her description the fairies were mute, I just made them have voices. However, I made up their looks (with knickerbockers and everything :))

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Mage: no, Harry doesn't shag his wife every time he meets her, but Tatyana's potion does not only make him think that she's Ginny, but the potion also contains a very strong aphrodisiac and some kind of hypnotising-stuff as well. So he just can't NOT do it. 

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Tomoyo Pota: you wrote you didn't like Herm/Ron together. Are you a H/Hr fan, then? 

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Whit2005: yes, I'm going to write a sequel and both Lily and Davie will be there. Daniel too. I heard rumours that book 5 might not come out till autumn 2003! How terrible! Rowling is torturing us! I'm contemplating to send her a howler :)) The second HP movie comes out in November again (and I know that we in Hungary will get it on 5th December. I have already circled that day in the calendar on the wall with a highlighter :)).

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Super saya-Jin Gotan: wow, I always thought you were a girl! (no offence! I'm happy you're a guy!:))) May I ask how old you are? (just curious) Read the first 6-7 lines of my A/N and you'll understand why I 'updated' TGSoHH.

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Saphron: yeah, Harry's way too naive, that's his problem. He believes in people's innocence and good will. He should not. The world is cruel (and the author is cruel :)

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Aurumlupi: no, Tatyana won't be reborn in one of Herm's kids, because she'll succeed in what she wants – thus this 'possessed-spirit-being-reborn-again-and-again-until-it-reaches-its-aim-stuff' won't work anymore for her. 

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Kristen Michelle: and does your mum like it?

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jennaration: I'll reveal everything in time (well, almost everything… I'll leave a couple of things open for the third story *cruel me* :)

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thebiggesthpfan: no, not 36 but 39 chapters.

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star queen: have I really outdone myself? *grin* thanks.

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Tessa: I won't be Rita on ffnet, I'm just playing her in a Hungarian RPG – and there I'm not nasty to Harry, I'm rather nasty to Gilderoy Lockhart (I love teasing the guy who is playing Gilderoy, LOL!)

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PepsiAngel: yes, my mum is still beta-reading for me.

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Wood's secret lover: does Rowling also live in Edinburgh?

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LilGinny: yes, the twins will be born in this story and Herm and Ron will reconcile. But much later. You'll see Gred/Forge/Angie again, too. Was your camping good? (I suppose you'll only answer this question in about a week, right?)

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Toby Haine: oh, at last someone who noticed 'I beat Lockhart!' (my fave sentence in last chapter :) Anyway, the review record isn't held by X_Tow_Naga anymore, the new record-holder is Nefertiri. Keep writing your fic!

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Romina: no, Tatyana isn't sleeping with him to get pregnant. She does it for another reason.

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Eclectus: Tatyana wanted the cupids to shoot Herm so that Herm would leave Harry alone. Herm was too much following Harry around and Tatyana wanted to get rid of her to get to Harry.

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Derkaun Zarion: yes, a samovar is something in which you boil water for making tea. I don't think I'll ever read any other of Tolkien's books, but I'm going to finish the LotR series for the second time – though I don't know when. I also love the Hand of Thrawn duology – especially the Luke/Mara parts :))) I started to read the NJO series, too, but stopped. I was happy when Ben Skywalker was born, but I was totally mad when Anakin was killed off! 

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Arif: I also think that the last 45 minutes of SW were the best! I was a bit surprised that the clones were on the good side in this movie… later on they'll be on the evil side. How old are you – I forgot, sorry. No, Mileta won't write letters to Ginny. She'll do someting nastier :) I already have ideas for story three, and there'll be a bit of teenage-love, but not much. Of course Harry's going to get to know that Tatyana was 'playing' with him, but it might be late for him… *evil grin* And when will that happen? Very soon… I'm not mad about the bash of Eastern Europe, it was kind of right :( Well, you tried for the longest, but didn't manage, sorry. Why did Anna tell Herm about Harry/Tatyana? Because she thought that Harry wouldn't believe her (and she turned out to be right), so she thought that Harry would believe Hermione… maybe. Or at least Herm could hold Tatyana off Harry, preventing her from hurting him. I don't have more HP pics scanned, but I might ask my friend to scan a couple more of my pics.

Also thanks to: _the coffee fiend, Ari Potter, ILOVELINKINPARK222, Sherylyn, Amen, Coolio, Almah, phoenix6545, Harrysgirl, Lupinslover, Qahira Galatea, AmandaPanda, zzxm, Faunix, alli, Bienfoy, Analyse, Lana Potter, Lady Lupin, Black Ice, goldenstar555, nutmeg, Harryismyhero (what a cute name!), Waldomier, PadmeSkywalker, Katie Bell, HerbieWerbie (double thanks to you, my friend!) ladyyuy, silverchocolate, evil_monkeys_abuser_

Holy Snitch, I have outdone myself again, writing the longest A/N section for this story so far! I'm sorry that I'm so chatty, I have already been told off for it by people, but I try to answer everyone, so don't get mad at me!

This is a link-chapter, not exactly exciting – excitement comes from next chapter.

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Chapter 23

Kinder surprise

Next morning – dawn, to be exact - Harry was awoken by the screech owl he had sent to Ginny the previous day. 

"What a quick delivery!" he said gleefully. "Thanks."

The owl took wing and Harry lit some candles to be able to read the letter in the semi-darkness, then sat back down on his bed to read his wife's reply.

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Darling Harry,

The poem was simply wonderful… I can't find words for it. I have never received a poem in my whole life – it was so beautiful! Truth be told I totally forgot about Valentine's Day, so it was a huge surprise when the owl arrived with your letter. 

Thank you very much, dear.

It was not only the poem that made me happy, but the knowledge as well, that you have forgiven me for having accused you. I was so terribly mad with myself, and I feared that you might not forgive me… but you did, and that makes me happy.

Ron, on the other hand… well, better not even talk about it. For the last month he has been as bitter as professor Snape, at least people say so. I don't really know, because he spent the last weeks in Hogsmeade, working. I think he wants to over-work, hoping that it will help him forget. Stupid, isn't he? I'm sure Hermione never cheated on him with Viktor Krum – please reassure me that she hasn't!

Sirius has been behaving in a funny way lately. He keeps disappearing for days and isn't willing to tell where he had been. I'm not forcing him, of course, he is an adult and can take care of himself.

Lily has learnt lots of new words, and she is constantly talking to Angel now. She misses you, and I think she believes that if she talks to the stuffed unicorn, then you can hear what she says.

Imagine, Daniel has learnt to sit up! I was so proud of him! You should have been there, too, Harry. I hope you'll be with us to see when he takes his first steps.

Take care of yourself and never forget that I love you.

Ginny

After this letter, Harry couldn't stop grinning. He opened his notebook-calendar to count the days until Easter – when he will be going to see his wife again. Fifty-nine days! He felt he couldn't survive that long without Ginny. He read the letter through again, then dressed up in a wonderful mood, humming _What a wonderful world_.

He was just pulling on his socks – a pair he had received from Dobby for his nineteenth birthday (one of them was navy blue with small birthday-cakes, the other was red with golden griffins), when someone knocked on the door.

"Coming!" Harry said, hoping against hope that it wasn't Mileta this time. "Whew." he sighed, seeing Hermione leaning to the door-post. "Good morning, Herm."

"You look happy." she perceived as she entered.

"Yeah, I'm happy. Life is beautiful, the birds are singing, and I'm in love!"

"Not with Tatyana, are you?" Hermione asked with a worried expression.

"No." he laughed. "Just received an owl from Ginny. She wrote wonderful things." he heaved a happy, satisfied sigh. "Love is so beautiful."

"Yeah, it is." she replied with a sad smile.

"I shouldn't have said that." he sighed, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Sorry, Herm."

"Don't be sorry, Harry." she said, sitting down at a small table. 

He took place next to her. "Ron's an idiot."

"True. But I'm going to have twins from that idiot." she whispered.

"What?" Harry's eyes widened, grasping her hands. "Hermione! Is… is this… are you sure?"

"Positive." she nodded.

"This is wonderful, Herm! I'm going to be an uncle!" he clasped his hands happily.

She tried to smile, but burst into tears instead.

"Hey, it's okay." he pulled her to himself, gathering her into his arms. "It's okay… don't cry, Hermione. Something wonderful is happening to you now. You should be happy."

"I – am – happy!" she sobbed.

"You don't look it." he shook his head.

"But I am… oh, Harry, it's so difficult!" she sniffed. "Since I married Ron, I have wanted to have kids from him, but… they came along in a rather inconvenient time… what if Ron will think they are Krum's children?"

"Then Ron is definitely an idiot." Harry said, gently caressing her hair. "Anyway, there are still those paternity tests, and… hey, they are going to be Weasleys, after all! Red hair and everything… Ron won't think they aren't his!"

"Daniel has _your_ hair, not the Weasley-red." she pointed out. "I have about the same hair-colour as Viktor. Ron can easily jump to conclusions if the babies inherit my hair."

"Then I'll kick him." Harry said with a smile. "Does anyone else know?"

"No. I only realised it myself last night."

"And I'm the first you share it with? Thanks, I'm flattered."

"Of course you are the first, Uncle Harry." she smirked at him.

"_Uncle Harry_." he repeated, savouring the phrase. "I like the sound of it… You can't imagine how much I wanted to hear my daughter say _Daddy_, but she calls me 'Arry instead. I like it, too. She can say it in such a cute way."

"Yeah. Wonderful little girl, Lily." Hermione sighed. "I hope my girls will be like her."

"Girls?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "How do you know?"

"I don't know." she smiled. "I just feel it."

"Thought of names yet?"

"Well, one thing is sure: they are NOT going to be called Frederica and Georgina."

Harry laughed. "Wise decision. By the way… have you and Ron… haven't you used any kind of protection?"

"Well… actually we did… but… we forgot once or twice, I guess. For example at New Year." she shrugged.

"Oh. So it's not the same case as it is with Ginny and me."

"No. I _know _that we have forgotten a couple of times, but you two… you never forgot it, right?"

He nodded. "This is something I still don't understand, Hermione. Why did the charms and potions not work? What did neutralise their effects?"

"I don't know… but you can be sure that she did NOT get pregnant if you kept using my little presents… of course they could also have broken…" she mused. 

"I hope they didn't!" Harry exclaimed with a half-serious, half-joking expression. "Shall we go and tell McGonagall the big news?"

"Yeah, let's go."

Harry swished with his wand to put out the candles, but they refused to be put out.

"Oh, my wand's malfunctioning again!" he sighed. "I guess I should take it to Ollivander's to have it checked when we go home for Easter."

"I'm not likely to go home for Easter." Hermione shook her head. "I don't want to see Ron."

* * * * *

Minerva had just exited the infirmary with a rather sullen face, when Harry and Hermione spotted her.

"Have you been visiting Aberforth?" Hermione asked.

"Yes." the professor nodded glumly.

"Has he come round yet?"

"Er, no."

"But he will be all right, won't he?" Harry said, worried.

"No serious damage done." McGonagall snorted. "Anyway, he deserved it. That man has no shame! Had he been a gentleman, he would have stupefied me to stop me from getting myself into such an… embarrassing situation." she shook her head. "He shouldn't have let me continue kissing him. He well deserved what I did to him."

"Still you feel sorry for him." Harry perceived. "And you feel guilty."

"Of course I feel guilty, Potter!" Minerva snapped. "But NOT because of having broken his limbs, but because of having kissed him! What a terrible shame! A scandal!"

"_The greatest scandal of Durmstrang history_?" Harry whispered to Hermione who started to giggle.

"It is no laughing matter." McGonagall stated sternly. "That man is crazy."

"But you like him." Harry said.

"You are imagining things, Potter." the elderly professor replied, crossing her arms.

"Am I?" he grinned at his sister-in-law, who grinned back at him. "However, this is not what we wanted to talk to you about, right, Herm?"

"No." she beamed at him. "Minerva… imagine, I'm going to have twins!"

"Ooooooooh!" Minerva clasped her hands, her morose expression disappearing at once, "What wonderful news, Hermione! Congratulations! It's fantastic, don't you think, Mr. Krum?"

Hermione and Harry turned around to see Viktor standing not far from them, looking like someone who had swallowed a skrewt.

"Oh, this wasn't the way I wanted to tell him." Hermione whispered to Harry, feeling like kicking something.

"But he had to get to know, anyway." Harry reasoned.

After a minute of awkward silence Krum straightened himself (as much as such a round-shouldered guy could), and walked up to them with a forced smile.

"Let me congratulate you, Herm-own-ninny. This is great."

"Thanks, Viktor." she replied, knowing exactly that his smile was not real – knowing that he would rather cry than smile, if his pride would let him.

* * * * *

Two weeks had passed since Hermione's revelation, and Krum's mood hadn't improved a bit. He was avoiding everyone, barely speaking and always wearing a frown. 

Olympe Maxime kept complaining that the Durmstrang headmaster had no idea of manners at all.

Aberforth was starting to feel better (he had regained consciousness), and he could use both his arms and one of his legs already. He received crutches and seemed to be having fun with them. His left leg was still in plaster, because it had broken in such an unfortunate way that simple charms or magic draughts couldn't put it right – all they could do was to speed up his recovery. So, he was wearing a plaster, on which he had drawn funny pictures to make it look more interesting. There was a yeti on it, holding hands with Santa Claus, looking at a ship that was sailing into the setting sun. Under the picture he had drawn a heart that was shot through by an arrow. To McGonagall's utter horror, he had written _I love you Minnie_ into it.

Aberforth and Harry were adding the finishing touches to the plans on the second task, while Hermione was still angry with Ron, and Harry couldn't talk her into writing him a letter.

"No, Harry, he doesn't deserve to know that he's going to be a father!" she stated coldly.

"But Herm… couldn't you just tell him tomorrow… as a birthday present?"

"Birthday?" she raised an eyebrow. "He forgot about Valentine's Day. I'm going to forget about his birthday."

"You cannot be so vindictive, Herm."

"I can." she said, indicating that the discussion was over.

Try as he might, Harry couldn't persuade her to forgive Ron, no matter how much time they had spent together – and they DID spend lots of time together – too much, in Harry's opinion.

He simply couldn't understand why Hermione was following him around, but he didn't want to remark on it.

Harry kept in touch with Ginny, who informed him about everything that was going at home. Harry was appalled to read her letter of 3rd March:

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Dearest Harry,

I hope you are doing well at Durmstrang. Things are not exactly spiffing here. Sirius keeps disappearing from time to time, and he only comes back after three or four days. Once I asked him about this, but he said (very politely) that it was none of my business. 

Ron is still so grumpy that he is threatening his customers away. Broomstick sales are menacingly dropping – if he does not come to his senses soon, he will have to close the shop.

Percy's mood isn't a bit better – he still hasn't managed to get over his disastrous wedding, and - according to evil gossips – he still hasn't slept with Penny! Now can you imagine it? They've been married for three months now! This is scandalous! (I for one would have died of longing if you had ignored me for a single day after our wedding:)

Things aren't going any better for the twins – George has healed totally, but they aren't speaking to each other and they insist on running Weasley Wizard Wheezes separately: so Fred is in the shop on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and George is on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Angelina is starting to feel really bad about this situation. I fear she might get a nervous breakdown and that would surely affect the poor baby as well.

Mum is still angry with George for having seduced his twin's girlfriend – but she isn't right, since George was drunk. Well, of course he shouldn't have drunk so much. 

Nowadays mum spends all her time with Yvette (Fleur is visiting her family in France and Bill is back in Egypt). That poor little thing doesn't even recognise her parents!

After all these bad news, let me tell you something happier as well: Dannie has started to crawl! You can't imagine how cute he is when he 'races' up and down in the manor. Last week I almost got a heart attack, because I went to feed him but he wasn't in his crib. I thought he might have been kidnapped or something – then I found him in the kitchen with Dinky! He had crawled down the stairs! He has also befriended Abu – they are practically inseparable.

Lily is doing very well, she is speaking constantly. You simply cannot make her stop speaking for a single minute! (except when she is eating… and she's eating a lot! I hope she isn't going to look like Millicent or Myrtle:)

Give my regards to Hermione and McGonagall!

Love,

Ginny

* * * * *

Two weeks before the second task Dennis was starting to be jittery again. Harry understood him more than anyone else and tried to talk him into eating something.

"I'm not hungry. Really." the boy said, gazing at his plate.

"But if you don't eat anything, you won't have enough power to compete." Harry pointed out. "And if you can't compete, you can't win the tournament for Hogwarts."

"Do you _really_ believe I could win?" Dennis asked with a great deal of uncertainty in his voice.

"Of course I believe in it. I have faith in you, young man." Harry replied. "You are talented, inventive and courageous."

"Courageous?" the boy blinked in surprise. "I don't think so. I wasn't even brave enough to ask out Mileta."

"Mileta…" Harry whispered. "Really, what is with her nowadays? I haven't talked to her lately."

"I thought _she_ wasn't talking to _you_." Dennis said. "Though I have no idea why. What have you done?"

"Nothing. But she thinks I did something… not nice." Harry shrugged. "I don't care what she thinks as far as I know that I haven't done anything wrong."

"You're right." Dennis nodded. "Well, I guess I've got to start eating before it gets stone-cold."

"That's more like it." Harry smiled at him, reaching out for a goblet of butterbeer (since Christmas no one was willing to drink tea so the house-elves had been told not to dare to serve tea). As he reached out for his butterbeer, his eyes met that of the Potions teacher. Harry felt a shiver run down his spine and quickly diverted his glance.

Harry finished dinner early and headed upstairs, feeling tired. As he turned onto the third-floor corridor, he caught a glance of Catherine the Great, sitting in her frame, crying.

"What happened, your majesty?" he asked.

The woman looked up and wiped her eyes with a lacy handkerchief. "I've… I've got a letter from Akakiy…" she sniffed, showing an envelope to Harry with the text: '_to Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst'._

"Excuse me, but who is this lady with the long German name?" he asked.

"It's me!" the tsarina snapped. "It is my original name! You should have known as much!"

"Er, sorry. I am quite uninformed in this area of history." Harry said. "But why are you so sad?"

"Because… Akakiy broke up with me!" she bawled. "Fell in love with… pogrebins!"

"What? He fell in love with pogrebins?"

"No! Pogrebins!" she was pointing at something behind Harry's back.

"Oh, no!" Harry groaned, searching for his wand. He wasn't quick enough – before his hand could get hold of the wand in his robe-pocket, the two demons jumped upon him, pummeling him with their fists. One of them crawled upon Harry's face, and while he was trying to throw it off, he felt some sharp object tear at his chest. He called out in pain, tossed the two attackers off himself, and before he could stupefy them, he heard someone yell _Avada Kedavra!_

The two pogrebins fell to the floor, dead.

Harry looked at them in horror, then looked down at his left hand that he had instinctively pressed to his chest. His fingers were red with blood. "Ohhhh…" he gasped, feeling close to passing out. His vision grew dim, but he knew that someone was approaching: he heard the rustle of a rock.

"No more problem with those pesky little monsters." a female voice said. "Are you okay?"

"Do I look okay?" he grunted, opening his eyes, trying to make out the other person. He squinted and saw a blurry Tatyana kneeling next to him, taking his hand off his wound.

"Not too deep. You'll survive." she stated calmly. With a swish of her wand she made the pogrebins' bodies disappear. "I'll help you stand up."

Harry gripped her hand and stood up, feeling giddy. 

"Come, I'll bandage your wound and give you something that will heal you in no time." she said. 

"Oh, no you don't!" came another female voice.

"H…hermione?" Harry stammered. "What…?"

"You are not going with that woman, Harry." his sister-in-law said resolutely. "You're coming with me. Give me your hand, I'll help you."

"I don't need you to prop me, I can walk." he replied irritably. "Thanks, professor Fiodrovna. You saved my life." he told the other woman.

"You're welcome." Tatyana smiled at him, watching as he limped away with Hermione. "You are going to pay for this, Weasley." she whispered when they were out of earshot.

* * * * *

Harry's wound healed in a couple of hours, thanks to the school matron and her excellent patch-up charm: nothing remained of it but a short, white scar.

Harry was feeling all right again, but Hermione still seemed worried about him. Now she really wasn't letting him out of her sight and practically wanted to escort him to the bathroom as well.

"Hermione! I – am – fine!" he told her after a whole week of fussing over him. "Really. No need for you to come and watch as I pee, okay?"

"Okay!" she huffed. "I'm going back to my room and read!"

She stormed out, heading for the library instead of her room. On the corner, however, she bumped into professor Fiodrovna.

"Sorry." Tatyana said.

"Sorry?" Hermione shouted. "I know how sorry you are… that you couldn't get laid by Harry again!"

"What?" the other woman gasped.

"Don't pretend to be the innocent little maiden, professor!" Hermione replied with clenched fists. "I know what you were doing to my brother-in-law! I have no idea why you were doing it, but you can count on it that I'm going to find out!"

"And what if you find out too late?" Tatyana asked coolly, crossing her arms.

"That's out of the question. I'm going to get to know it, and you can be sure that I'm going to prevent you from harming Harry! Did you hear me? I'm – not- letting – you – harm – him!"

With that, she raced off.

"Are you sure, Weasley?" Tatyana sneered. "Are you totally sure? I'll show you, little one… I'll show you that if I decide something, no one can stand in my way!"

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A/N2: do you like Kinder Surprise? I used to love the little toys in it when I was younger… and I still love the chocolate, it's so delicious! Anyway, I used it for the title because of its double meaning: in this case it refers to Hermione's twins, of course, because Kinder is the German word for children. There was a joke telling: what comes if a condom breaks? Well, Kinder Surprise :)) 


	24. Exsugo vium magicae

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A/N: thanks for the reviews, my friends! It's very flattering that you are competing to write the longest reviews, but you really don't need to write novel-length ones… I'm happy if you just drop a line :) Besides some reviews took me 10-15 minutes to read through… a bit too long. I love your reviews, and I'm grateful for them, but please… stop competing. 

For those who don't know what Kinder Surprise is: it's an egg-shaped chocolate containing a small yellow (also egg-shaped) box in it, and in the boxes there's always a little toy.

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Cassandra Anthemyst: no, your theory isn't even close.

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Hayley Mills: I have asked you this before, but did you get your nick from the actress' name from Parent trap? You haven't answered this question yet, though I'm really interested! I don't like horror. Hungarian lesson: 'hello, my name is…' = 'szia, a nevem…', 'how are you?' = 'hogy vagy?', 'I'm fine.' = 'jól vagyok.' SW EPII is much better than EPI. No, I don't get MTV, VH1 or TRL. Anyway, I don't really listen music like that (I'm quite a weirdo, I know, but I rather listen to Johann Strauss – a 19th century Austrian composer, the so called 'King of waltzes'. I'm so old fashioned in this respect :) I also like to listen to film scores – especially when they're composed by John Williams (you know, the composer of Star Wars, E.T., Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones… he's the best, IMHO). 

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Bucky: I'm not going to go to gryffindortower. I like to read stories there, but I don't want to put my fic there. 

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Arif: first of all: X_Tow_Naga is a he, not a she. (you are the third person who believes him to be a girl, LOL:) No, I haven't read Dragonlance. What is memorial day? Idiotically proud, huh? :)) I didn't have a pic of Tatyana – until you wrote me your last review. So I drew one. My friend is scanning it, I guess I'll be able to send it to you on Monday. I don't think that Rowling will pair off everyone. But I seriously hope that she'll pair Harry off… possibly with Ginny. But if it's Hermione, it's okay, too (though who will Ron get, then?) Of course Ginny will find out! Yes, my mum likes what I write – she's rather modern-minded, LOL:) She gave me romances to read at the age of 12… not that I liked the romances… too sappy, yuck! I still don't like Danielle Steel, for example… not my type. My mum never minded what I read or wrote, she knew that I'm a moral girl and I wouldn't be spoiled by such stories. How do I feel about gays? Hm… I'm sorry for them, I guess. It's not their fault, it must be some genetic disorder, right? I'm happy that I'm hetero, that's all. So, your mum doesn't know that your brother is gay? How very strange… What kind of Internet Service do I have? I have Axelero Internet – a Hungarian one, you surely haven't heard of it yet. I'm not sure that I'm going to stay by it, though – it is going to raise its prices drastically, so I might have to find another Net service. Are you asking me to beta your future fic? Well… okay :) If it won't be too long :) What do you mean by 'please don't make the kids preppy at school in your next story.'? Does preppy mean 'too neat'? (that's what I found in the dictionary). Anyway, the kids won't bee too neat, don't worry. They'll be little devils :)) Not all of them, but most. No, I haven't written the third fic yet – I have only written 4 chapters, but nowadays I don't have time for it – you know, those damn exams… *sigh* No, I haven't heard of Virginia euwer Wolf. I don't know whether I'll ever write anything original… maybe. But I don't have ideas yet. I'm not driving yet, and I'm not going to learn how to for quite a long time. I wanted to learn it this summer, but my family had to sell the car, so now there's nothing to drive :( 

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blaubaerin: I guess Herm just wanted McGonagall to know about the twins – she and Minerva had befriended each other pretty much. They're on first name terms, have you noticed? Oh, you're right about the rock thingie! I DID mix up the English and German words, LOL! :))) I don't like dark chocolate at all. Kinder Überraschung is called Kinder Meglepetés in Hungary.

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PepsiAngel: don't worry, Ron will be normal soon.

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Myrtle: you wrote about a forum Almah also goes to. Is it that one where she wrote her story? (the one with the dark blackground? Sorry, I don't remember the URL of that site.)

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Lavendar Brown: I'm not going to have a kid-naming contest, because I already have names for all future kids, however I'm going to have a poll near the end of the story. A long way to go until then… Don't worry, Tatyana won't kill the babies. She's evil but not that evil.

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Notebook Girl: no, your theory isn't even close. No, Ginny isn't pregnant, because the condom didn't break.

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Aimee: enchanting the unicorn is a very sweet idea. You'll get to know about Sirius near the story's end (no, not in the last chapter, earlier). Dan matures like a regular baby, I guess, but I'm not sure how quick regular babies mature – I haven't had a child yet :) I know that babies need breast milk, but if it ebbs then they cannot get it any longer (at least not from their own mothers). My mum only had milk for three months after I was born. Well, of course the pogrebins will stop wanting to kill Harry! How could they NOT STOP, when they're dead??? (Tatyana killed them in last chapter!) I gave my mum your thanks for betareading and she was very happy :)

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Bexpotter: of course SW is better than LotR! Much better! I didn't like Shakespeare in love… I only liked that scene where the girl's chaperone listens as they are having sex and makes funny faces. That was cool, but I wasn't really taken with the movie.

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Qahira Galatea: Tatyana won't kill Herm, I promise.

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Almah: yes, Kinder surprise is exactly what you mentioned.

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X_Tow_Naga: how do you have this much time to write such a long review, huh? I envy you, I don't have this much time. I'm glad you also learnt to use the Enter, thanks, it made it much easier to read. It's possible that ghosts could smoke, I don't know. Ginny's name wasn't pronounced in the movie. In the next one it surely will. Well, Ginny really should have visited Ron… you're right. I guess Ron just didn't want to see anyone of his family. Sirius's disappearing has nothing to do with Lupin. You're the second one suggesting me to make the stuffed unicorn be able to move. Cute idea, really. However there won't be 'place' for it in this story. Maybe in the next one. Harry might have been able to go home for a day or so, but I didn't want him to. It's so simple. He needed to be at Durmstrang, because I wanted him to be there. I think there are only Muggle paternity tests, but both Harry and Herm had Muggle upbringing, so that's how they knew about it. I don't know whether Ron has heard about it at all. Yes, Lily has red hair. I thought it'd be better not to know the babies' sex beforehand. I was contemplating to include a charm that tells you their sex, but decided against it. I never even wanted to name the babies Luke or Leia, especially not Jacen or Jaina, because I HATE Jacen and Jaina. The only normal Solo child was Anakin, but he got killed off. I'm mad! No, your theory about Harry's wand wasn't right. Aberforth levitating himself? LOL… no. Arrows hitting someone in the eye? Aaaarrrgghhh… what an idea! I was rotfl when I read that! Although everyone knows that Vicky loves Herm, he wanted to keep his pride and not show his sorrow. Be a man, you know… I guess Ron was just too mad to send Herm a Valentine (or maybe forgot it, too.) I don't know much about mood swings, either, so don't ask me that. Fred and George aren't making new inventions nowadays. They have already quite a lot of those. No, neither of the twins has proposed to Angie. It doesn't mean that neither of them will :) You got me – I have no idea how Dan got out of the crib… maybe Lily unintentionally levitated him out of it :) The Durmstrang elves served Vodka only for the teachers. Dennis surely tried to talk to Mileta again, and he surely managed to get a couple of words from her, and in those couple of words she could tell him that she wasn't talking to Harry anymore. The Videus Camericus charm is just watching one spot, but it can work as real TV as well… you'll see soon, there'll be a bit of it again. Hm… I didn't think of using a Pensieve… Hermione doesn't have one. Go to http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/home.asp , there you'll find a pronunciation dictionary and Avada Kedavra is there, too. Click on 'Voldemort', too, you'll be surprised! 

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princesswitch: what chapter will Herm and Ron make up? Hm… 32, as far as I remember… but I might be wrong.

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star queen: I have read all 3 LotR books, but found them terribly boring. I started to read book one again in December and I'm still at the middle of it… I simply can't get myself to read on. I also think that Galadriel wasn't good in the movie. Who's Haldir and Faramir? I don't remember. I haven't seen the trailer of The Two Towers yet.

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Kristen Michelle: you're older than me? Hm… that surprised me, really – in a good way :)) Yes, Herm's babies will be born in this story, but there won't be much about them. In the next story. Well, if identical twins are genetic, then Herm surely had a grandma or great-grandma who had a twin. You call your mum Sissy? How cute… there was an Austrian Empress called Elizabeth, the wife of Franz Joseph, whose nickname was also Sissy. She was also Hungarian queen and our nation loved her very much. I have read several books about her life. 

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aurora riddle: sorry, you didn't beat X_Tow_Naga… and I don't think that anyone will beat him now… he wrote me a 2,5 A4 page long review. You really don't need to beat him, I'm not expecting anyone to write me such long reviews!

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jeanine23Dr: yes, I have names for the twins. My mum uses the PC, but not for Internet. Unfortunately I don't travel a lot. The farthest I have been is Paris (oh, I loved Eurodisneyland! The best place in the world!) I'm sure that the Dominican Republic is beautiful, but I don't have that much money to go that far :( Yes, lucrative is the right word, I guess. 

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spangle*star: don't worry, Ron will get to know, just not right now.

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Maddy: am I one of the most evil people in the world? Wow, I never knew :) 

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zzxm: I promise not to hate this fic, as long as my readers promise me the same (which I'm not sure they'll do, given that I KNOW what is going to happen… and it's not good. It's evil… :)

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The Face of Evil: no, Tatyana never was a squib. 

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Nefertiri: I'm terribly sorry, but your record has been taken away. (You don't need to try for it again, really! Just write me normal-length reviews, I'm totally happy with those!) Hermione won't tell her pregnancy to Ron… still she will. You'll see what I mean. No, Angelina wasn't wrong about the date of the baby's conception. It's George's, not, Fred's. Lily will continue calling her parents Harry and Ginny, but Dan will normally call them mum and dad. 

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Whit2005: why do you think that you cannot write stories the proper way? What do you mean by 'the proper way'? It's very subjective, you know… Something that seems proper for someone might not be regarded proper by someone else, and vice versa. So have faith, I'm sure you can write good fics! You know what? Send me one of your short stories (in two weeks when I'm ready with my exams – hopefully), and maybe I can suggest something. Anyway, I don't know whether I'm writing my fics 'the proper way', because I don't know what it is…

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apple-pie: Hermione cannot protect Harry forever. Sorry. No, Tatyana won't kill either Herm or the twins, I promise.

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thebiggesthpfan: no, Tatyana doesn't use Imperio on Harry, because he cannot be controlled by it (remember, Dennis told her that Harry couldn't be controlled by it and Tatyana was surprised to hear it. Anyway, she knew that she needed to use something else. So she used a potion that had about the same effect as Imperio, just with a bit of aphrodisiac and with a bit of something that made Harry think that Tatyana was Ginny.) No, Tatyana didn't use Obliviate, either: remember, she used a hypnotising charm while Harry was sleeping… with that spell she made him forget it all. I think that these spells and potions are illegal, but IMHO not only the unforgivable curses are illegal… remember book two, where Lucius Malfoy wants to sell Mr. Borgin some potions that are definitely illegal. I'm sorry if I hurt you or your country, I didn't mean to. By mentioning that women were treated badly in the Middle-East, I rather meant Afghanistan, for example. There they ARE treated badly, right? Correct me if I'm wrong. Anyway, I can understand that you are upset, I remember how upset I was when one of my reviewers asked me whether people got their hands cut off in Hungary. I thought: "heavens, what does this guy think of us? That we are barbarians?" I really didn't want to hurt anyone.

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Analyse: no, Lupin doesn't even know Tatyana.

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PadmeSkywalker: thanks for asking your teacher :)

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LilyGinny: you'll find out about Tatyana's intentions VERY soon.

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Eclectus: yes, Sophie Friedrike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst is really the original name of Catherine the Great. 

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Paperdoll58: (are you the same as Crazycutee831? Just wondering…) No, Angelina won't miscarry. 

Also thanks to: _Aurumlupi, K.C. Hunter, goldenstar555, AmandaPanda, ILOVELINKINPARK222, Padfoot, ladyyuy, Coolio, Super saya-Jin Gotan, Harryismyhero, Amen, !Cedric!Diggory!Fan!, HerbieWerbie, Blondie in Disguise, Saphron, Ari Potter, Alexander Pheonix, Harrysgirl, Katie Bell, Kit Cloudkicker, phoenix6545 _

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Chapter 24

Exsugo vium magicae

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"With Krum? Hermione! You cheated on me!"

"Do you think I'm totally crazy?"

"You accepted a gift from Krum! Why is he giving presents to you, huh? Someone would think… that…"

"You surely have been having a relationship with him since summer!"

"Stop, please, please, Ron, believe me! I'm innocent!" Hermione shouted back.

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"Why should I believe you?"

"Yes, why should he believe you, you little prat? You've lost your husband, you are going to lose your best friends as well!"

"No! NOOOOO!"

Hermione sat up in her bed, panting. Her whole body was drenched in sweat as her heart was racing so fast that she thought it'd leap out of her chest.

"Just a dream. Just a dream." she whispered to herself, hoping that no one had heard her. It would be rather unpleasant if people from the neighbouring rooms started flooding into her room now. "Calm down. Everything's all right." her hands wandered down to her still flat belly, gently caressing it. "Don't worry, my sweets, mommy just had a nightmare. Nothing is amiss. Your father is really a prat, but… I love him. You'll love him, too. He's a great guy, really. You'll have so much fun with him… And your Uncle Harry… he's all right. Nothing happened to him…" she suddenly gasped. "Oooooh!" she slapped her forehead. "Why haven't I thought of this before?"

She jumped out of her bed, waved her wand to rekindle the candles and ran to the table, opening Beautiful Bill's Biography, volume three, with trembling hands.

"It has to be here… has to…" she muttered, flipping over the pages with such haste that some leaves tore. "Oh, yes!" she exclaimed when she found the page she was looking for. "_Exsugo vium magicae_…" she began to read, her eyes widening in shock. When she reached the end of the description, she was practically hyperventilating. "No…" she clutched at her chest, gasping for breath. "No, please!" her eyes skimmed through the page once again, hoping that she had misinterpreted the lines… but there was no misunderstanding. "Oh, why haven't it occurred to me earlier?" she hid her face into her hands, feeling miserable. She had read this part of the book years earlier and had almost totally forgot about it by now… "But… it has to happen three times… the third hasn't happened yet!" she started to feel a bit hopeful. "I can prevent it if I keep following him around! I mustn't let him out of my sight… I'll accompany him to the toilet as well, if needed, but I can't let this happen!" she squeezed her eyes shut. "Why… why is this horrible woman doing this to him? What goal does she want to reach?" her mind racing, she slipped back into her bed. Try as she might, she couldn't fall asleep all night.

* * * * *

"Tomorrow… tomorrow… oh, heavens!" Dennis kept muttering to himself at the dinner table the next day.

"Hey, cheer up, Den, it's going to be okay!" Natalie McDonald patted his arm.

"Yeah, you are gonna be superb!" Eleanor added.

"You have to beat that dandy, you hear me?" Graham Pritchard told him. "I couldn't stand if Guillaume Jan Luc Whatever won the tournament!"

"You've got to win, Creevey!" Malcom Baddock added.

"I'll try, all right?" Dennis said irritably.

"Do or do not. There is no try." Eleanor said wisely. 

"Yoda?" Dennis had to smile – the first smile he had shown for days. He had been simply too nervous to smile.

"Don't worry, Dennis, the Force will be with you! And your wand as well. You'll be great." Eleanor grinned.

"I wish you were right." he grinned back.

* * * * *

Over dinner Harry was discussing the second task with Aberforth and couldn't _not _notice that the old man was casting surreptitious glances at McGonagall, who occasionally caught his glance, then turned away again and again.

Harry found this highly amusing but knew better than to mention it to either of them.

Krum was now in a bit better mood, talking animatedly with Madame Maxime.

Harry, though deeply immersed in discussion with Dumbledore, noticed that Hermione wasn't eating at all. She looked rather pale as though she were sick. Harry put it down to her pregnancy that now was common knowledge in the castle. She had received several congratulating cards from fellow teachers and even from students. Harry had written Ginny about the pregnancy, but asked her not to reveal it to Ron. Ginny was very happy about the news, but promised that she wouldn't spill the beans to her brother.

Harry found it ridiculous that Hermione couldn't forgive Ron, but decided not to bring it up. This time, however, he felt he needed to ask whether she was all right.

"Don't worry, Harry, I'm fine. Just a bit dizzy." she forced herself to smile. "That's quite normal in my condition, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Ginny also used to have morning sickness." he nodded.

"But it's evening, Harry." she scowled. "Never mind."

"You look concerned." he perceived. "And I don't believe it's about morning sickness, is it?"

"Can you read in my thoughts, Harry?" she gave him a penetrating look.

"No." he shook his head, reaching out to take hold of her hand. "But I know my best friend. I know you. And I know that something is worrying you."

She heaved a deep sigh. "That's right, Harry. Something is worrying me."

"What?"

"I have read something… creepy in Beautiful Bill's Biography. You've got to see it for yourself."

"Seen that book already, Herm… carried it too. Awfully heavy."

"Harry. Come with me. I want to show you this. I have to."

"All right." he sighed, standing up.

She also rose to her feet, then doubled over, letting out a small yelp, falling into Harry's arms.

"Hermione!" he slapped her face gently, trying to bring her round.

"Herm-own-ninny!" Krum jumped up and raced to her with an expression of sheer horror on his face.

"What happened to her?" Minerva worried.

"Fainted." Harry replied. "That's normal… I guess. I'll carry her upstairs."

"I'll do it." Krum said. "You go and find the nurse!"

Harry nodded, leaving the hall.

By the time the nurse had finished examining Hermione, the whole castle had become deserted – everyone had gone to bed.

Harry was relieved to hear that she wasn't in any danger and her babies were all right as well. Viktor Krum insisted on staying by Hermione's bed and told Harry to go and have some sleep. 

Harry, however, decided to have something to eat instead, because – having discussed the second task with Aberforth, then having chatted with Hermione – he practically didn't have time to use his mouth for eating, just for talking.

Aberforth had told him months ago where the kitchen was, so he went downstairs to ask the house-elves for a bit of that delicious-looking steak that had been served for dinner. He could have conjured some food himself, but he was sure that his wand couldn't 'cook' as well as the house-elves.

After having finished dinner, he headed upstairs, feeling happy that he had finally managed to remember which way to take up to his room. _Or had he?_

He turned left on a familiar-looking corner, only to realise that this part of the castle was unfamiliar. How could the corner be familiar, then? Madness, he thought. He also had a feeling of deja vu, but didn't remember having entered these corridors yet. 

He saw a huge painting with a rather upset Boyar (Russian nobleman) on it – he was irritably touching his chin again and again, muttering "I hate Peter the Great! I hate him!"

"Why do you hate him?" Harry asked curiously. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"Ah," the nobleman waved impatiently. "Peter is simply crazy. Look what he did to me! And to all Boyars!"

"What?" Harry raised an eyebrow. He didn't see anything out-of-place on the man.

"What? He shaved us!" the Boyar looked scandalised. "He went on this stupid journey to Western Europe and saw that people there were shaving… and then he came back and made us all shave our beautiful beards off!"

"I think you look quite okay without a beard." Harry shrugged. "Could you tell me where I am?"

"In Durmstrang, fool." the nobleman grunted.

"I'm aware of that much. But in which part?"

"Western Tower." the painting replied. "I hate everything that is western, and they knew it! That's why they put me here, to irritate me! I hate Western-Europe, I hate the Western Tower, I hate Peter the Great!"

Harry rolled his eyes and walked away, having had enough of the Boyar's whining. In this castle everyone seemed to be whining: Anna Karenina, Mileta, Ivan Ilyich, Mileta, Catherine the Great, and of course Mileta.

Harry was downright pleased that he hadn't had to talk to Krum's sister lately.

"Lost again, Harry?" a voice asked from a half-open door.

"Um, Tatyana." he said. "No, I haven't got lost, I just felt like walking a bit." he lied, not wanting to admit that he had been lost again.

"Walking on the dark corridors?" she furrowed her brow. "Really. Durmstrang is dangerous, Harry, didn't you know? There are dangerously stupid ghosts, dangerously irritating paintings and dangerous Potions masters, like me."

"I don't think you're dangerous." he replied. "I don't have any reasons to think you are… You saved my life, after all."

She rewarded him with a smile. "Then… feel like coming in and having a drink with me? I was kind of bored, you know. It's always nice to have company."

"Company is exactly what I need now. And a nice drink." he smiled back at her, feeling rather thirsty. He hadn't drunk anything after the salty steak. 

"You look worried." she perceived as they seated themselves at Tatyana's stone table. "What concerns you that much?"

"Well… Hermione… and Ron, I guess." he replied.

"Did they have a row?" she asked, passing him a drink.

"Yeah. A bad one… and an absolutely stupid one."

"Most rows are stupid, aren't they?"

"Yeah, but most couples have them, nevertheless."

"Do you know it from experience?"

"Uh-huh. But my wife and I always managed to sort out our problems."

"Then you are a lucky man." she smiled.

"I am." he nodded, sipping a bit of his drink. "I'm the luckiest guy in the world, because she loves me." he took another draught of the sizzling, orange liquid. "Ginny is simply… wonderful. Ginny is…" his eyes looked at Tatyana's grey ones, that – for the time being – he believed to be green… and her ebony-black hair, that – at the moment – seemed to be flaming red to him. "_Ginny_…"

* * * * *

Hermione woke at seven in the morning. She looked around and was quite surprised to see Viktor Krum slumbering at the foot of her bed. He was sitting on an armchair, bending his head on her mattress.

"Viktor?" she called.

"Herm-own-ninny!" he opened his eyes, blinking and yawning. "You feeling all right?"

"Yeah, but… what are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to sit up for you." he said, massaging his sore neck.

"But why?" 

"'Cause I was worried about you." he said with a small smile. "You fainted, after all."

"Fainted?" she frowned, trying to remember. "I was talking to Harry at the dinner table, then I told him to come with me because I wanted to show him… ooooooh…" she grabbed his hands. "Viktor! Go and see if Harry's in his room! Go!"

"Why?"

"Just go! Please!"

Viktor found her request a bit strange, but complied. He exited her room and knocked on Harry's door.

"Whaaaaaaat?" a sleepy voice came from inside.

Viktor ran back to Hermione. "He's in there."

"But alone, isn't he?" she asked with a worried expression.

"Er, dunno. A minute." he replied, running back to Harry's room, knocking again.

"Come in!" 

Viktor entered to see an extremely tired-looking Harry blinking at him.

"Hi, Viktor. Whad'ya want?"

"Nothing. Er… I just wanted to ask you whether you were prepared for the judging today."

"'Course I am!" Harry growled, pulling a pillow over his head.

"All right, see you at breakfast, then."

Krum hurried back to Hermione.

"He's alone." seeing her heave a relieved sigh, he asked: "Who did you think might be in there with him?"

"No one." she smiled. "Time to get up, I think."

"Do you feel up to it?"

"Sure I do. I'm fine." she said. "Would you leave so that I can dress up?"

Krum flushed a bit and nodded. "Okay."

"Hey, Viktor!" she called after him.

"Yeah?" he turned back from the door.

"Thanks for sitting up for me."

"You're welcome."

* * * * *

By nine o'clock in the morning all students and teachers were down beside the lake.

"I wonder what the task will be." McGonagall turned to Hermione.

"Me too. Hopefully nothing that makes them get soaked to the skin. I still remember having had to wear wet clothes for about half an hour after Viktor pulled me out of the lake. That was sheer torture."

"Don't worry, the champions won't get wet this time." Aberforth chimed in as he approached with his crutches – he wasn't wearing plaster anymore, but he still couldn't walk properly.

McGonagall turned away, trying to seem highly interested in Guillaume Lochar who was arranging his locks while two Beauxbatons girls were holding a huge mirror for him.

While Lochar looked totally carefree, Dennis was trembling with anticipation. Mileta, on the other hand, seemed to be rather grumpy, eyeing Guillaume suspiciously. 

Hermione saw Harry walk up to them, looking quite haggard.

"What happened to you?" she asked.

"Dunno." he said. "But I feel terrible. As though I had been a sponge that got wrung out. I barely had enough power to get up."

"Harry, you didn't…" Hermione began, but she couldn't finish her sentence, because Aberforth's magically magnified voice spoke up:

"Welcome to the second task of the Triwizard Tournament! I hope everyone is excited, not only the champions! As you all know, each of them can receive fifty points in this task, that is about going in there." he pointed his finger at the mouth of an ice cave in a small hill next to the lake. "You will find various traps and enchantments in your way… just the usual, you know… but there is only one way in this cave, while you could choose from several paths on the mountain in the first task. The one way means that you will be going together, so you'll need to test yourselves at teamwork. Yes… I know that you might find it rather strange to make the champions do this task as a team, but remember, good wizards not only have to know how to fair on their own. They need to be able to co-operate… help each other, fight for each other… get over their possible grudges... Your activity will be watched from out here by _Videus Camericus _charms that are hidden in several places in the cave. You may never know where you are being watched and where you aren't. The judges will award you points on basis of your ability in co-operating." he flashed a toothy smile at the champions who didn't seem to like this at all. Dennis, for one, couldn't imagine himself co-operating with Guillaume Lochar, because he hated that stuck-up guy, and he didn't feel up to work together with Mileta as well, whom he fancied. He knew that she didn't reciprocate his feelings and that made him feel awkward in her presence. They hadn't talked to each other since the Yule-ball – he was practically hiding from her.

Mileta wasn't too keen on working together with either the French guy, who hadn't bothered to help her at all when she had been in trouble with the yeti, or with Dennis, whose crazy infatuation irritated her. 

Guillaume shot a despising glare at the other two, but deep in his heart he was trembling with fear. If this task was really about helping each other, he knew he'd be in serious trouble – he doubted that either Dennis or Mileta would be willing to help him when he needed it.

"Before you go in," Aberforth carried on, "you need to know that the cave is horseshoe shaped, that means you'll see two paths in there, but either one you take, you'll go through the same path. Anyway, the entrance is the right-hand path, the exit is the left-hand one. Good luck to you all!"

All three champions stepped to the entrance of the cave, holding their wands at the ready. All three of them wore thick fur coats, because the ice cave was supposed to be very cold.

"May the Force be with you, Dennis!" the Star Wars fan Eleanor Branstone shouted after him, making the boy double back and give her a grateful smile.

"All right, then…" Aberforth lifted his wand, ejecting green sparks. "Off you go!"

Harry watched the three champions enter the cave and felt happy that it wasn't him who had to do it this time. Anyway, he felt way too tired and weak to be able to fight down monsters or neutralise the effect of enchantments.

Hermione looked around, searching for professor Fiodrovna in the crowd, but she was nowhere to be seen. Hermione felt a shiver run down her spine. She had a bad feeling about this.

All teachers and students were watching the events that took place in the cave through three huge, hovering magical screens. How thoughtless it was of Hogwarts not to use such screens, McGonagall thought. Had they used such screens, they could have seen everything that was going on at the bottom of the lake and in the maze. This way they could have seen that Harry was the first to find the hostages, or that someone had cursed obstacles out of Harry's way in the labyrinth. 

Suddenly one of the screens went blank.

"Malfunctioning charms!" McGonagall fumed, raising her wand, but Harry was quicker to wave with his wand, trying to restore the transmission. However, nothing happened.

"Malfunctioning wands!" Harry groaned. It wasn't the first case that his wand wasn't working properly. He flipped it again, trying to make it do… _anything_. But it did _nothing_. "Stupid wand!" Harry started waving it furiously, to no avail. 

"Try an incantation, whatever." Aberforth suggested.

"_Orchideous_!" Harry said, but his wand didn't sprout flowers. "_Lumos_!" still nothing.

"Let me try." Hermione said with shaking voice and chalk-white face, pulling the wand out of Harry's hand. "_Lumos_!"

A tiny flame appeared at the tip of Harry's wand.

"Why didn't it work for me?" he asked, dumbfounded.

"Harry…" Hermione gulped. "Did you… did you meet professor Fiodrovna last night by any chance?"

"Tatyana?" Harry scratched his head. "Yeah. She invited me for a drink, then… I don't remember."

"Oh, no!" Hermione gasped, pushing the wand back into Harry's hand. "Try again! Please, try again!"

"All right… _Incendio_! No, _Avis!… Serpensortia_!… I can't."

"Here, try mine." Hermione handed him her wand. 

"_Lumos_!" Harry shouted, exasperated. "I can't, Hermione…"

"What happened, Potter?" McGonagall asked after having repaired the screen.

"I… I have…"

"What?"

"…lost my magic powers."

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A/N2: the title means: to suck the magic powers out of somebody. Now you know what Tatyana did to Harry. I'm awaiting your howlers :)

Btw, congrats to blaubaerin, Kristen Michelle and The Face of Evil for having managed to find out what was about the happen! You're clever, ppl! :)


	25. One ring to tell her all

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A/N: hi, everyone, the evil author is back – well, not totally – I'm writing this from Azkaban, where many of you sent me :))

You said that I was really cruel doing this to poor Harry, always making him and the other characters suffer, but if I didn't, then nothing would happen in the story. Torturing the characters if necessary.

Okay, you asked how Tatyana could get Harry's powers by sleeping with him. Don't worry, you'll get to see that particular paragraph of Beautiful Bill's Biography, in which Beautiful Bill writes about this cruel charm. You also asked why Tatyana did it. You'll get to know it very soon. Things that you don't understand right now will be explained in chapter 28 (that will be a bit like chapter 31 in TGSoHH – I mean that will be the 'explaining-it-all-chapter').

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The Face of Evil: you're wrong, Dennis comes from a Muggle family – remember, his brother Colin was petrified by the basilisk in the second book, because he was a mud-blood. Dennis is also a mud-blood, so he can know Yoda. He's a real Star Wars fanatic, just like me :) So, you aren't coming to Hungary because of having to work that much? Well… okay, just promise me that you won't overwork and will still keep writing! I'm dying to get to know more about the evil Ron! :)

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Whit2005: what do you do on a mission trip? And where are you going? One of my father's acquaintances was on a mission trip to Kosovo, but up till now I haven't been explained what she did there. Does a mission trip include visiting hospitals and talking to the patients, reading the Bible for them or something like that? I'm really curious to know. I was just curious whether you were from the States or Great Britain, that's why I asked. Just to avoid misunderstandings… I know an ffnet author with whom I've been changing mails for weeks and I always thought she was from the US, and now she turned out to be British. Well… of course I should have known it, if I had paid more attention to her writing (I mean an American writes color, a British writes colour… I didn't pay attention to that… stupid, stupid me! You must be American, because you wrote color.) Sign language must be very interesting. So, you are learning German? Great, I also speak German! My favourite colours are blue and green (sky-blue, lagoon-blue, grass-green, emerald green). I like Celine Dion, but I'm not really a fan, I just think she's a great singer. I started learning English at the age of ten, but I stopped last year, because the teachers in the college couldn't teach my anything new :) Aha, so your birthday is 1st December? My birthday is 19th February. How old are you? (sorry if I have already asked this).

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spangle*star: there's no cure to make someone magic :( No, Tatyana is no former death-eater, she never knew Voldie in person, just heard of him like all witches and wizards.

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!Cedric!Diggory!Fan!: yes, I'm in college, a college is called a 'fõiskola' in Hungary. This term I have eight exams. Good luck with your exams! And happy birthday! I liked the HP movie, but it wasn't perfect, of course. I was shocked as Hermione uttered Voldie's name, for example. There were lost of mistakes, still it was cute. My faves were Ron, Hagrid and Snape.

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Almah, blaubaerin and_ BAYBEE:_ yes, it IS the greatest shame.

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star queen: I'm not going to make any other woman fall in love Ron – though your dream was cool :) 

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Waldomier: yes, Videus Camericus is the charm I made up in TGSoHH for Pomfrey to secretly watch Ginny.

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Super saya-Jin Gotan: yes, I'm going to get them at least 50 feet deep in trouble before making them climb their way up again – you do know me :)

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ladyyuy: you'll see Gred/Forge soon. Fred right in this chappie.

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WolfEyes: What does the abbreviation w/b mean?

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Arif: don't worry, the kids in story 3 won't be preppy. Well, one of them will be, but only one. Life won't be exactly perfect for them… you know me, I love making the characters have difficulties.

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Kara: I'm sorry but in the future it really will be painful to read! :)))

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Aimee: marital arts? Wow, what kind of? I think I wouldn't be able to do anything like that… I'm too fragile :(( Yes, Hermione just remembered that part of the book by accident. Just like me coming out from the college after an exam, suddenly slapping my head: "damn, I forgot something out of the test!" Such things happen to everyone – unfortunately. Eleanor isn't really representing me, but I put my love for Star Wars both into her and into Dennis :) You wrote: "if Tatyana only needs Harry's power to get what she wants, will he get it back when she's done?" Hm… if only everything was so easy! But it isn't. No, it wasn't Tatyana who caused the camera to malfunction, it was really just an accident (an accident I made deliberately to show that Harry's powers are gone.) My mum says hi to you!

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Coolio: serves him right? Oh no… Harry didn't know what he was doing! He was bewitched! He's innocent!

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Nefertiri: I've seen your website, it's great! That owl is so cute and the starry sky behind is sooooo beautiful! (you know I love astronomy!) I loved the apple-green background of Gringotts and the little Snitch in the text 'Wizard City' was very sweet.

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rebkos: I've seen your website, and I was surprised to see His dark materials there (I didn't even know what that book's original title was I just recognised it from the alethiometer. Really, isn't the real title Northern Lights?). I'm right now reading that book – the first one, because only the first has come out in Hungary yet. Really, how many books are there in that series? Btw, my daemon is a raven (no wonder, I guess I'd be put into Ravenclaw:)

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thebiggesthpfan: amazing butter in Hungary? Hm… amazing cheese? I'd rather say we are famous for our wines and goulash soup (remember, in book 4 during the Yule ball feast Harry also ate goulash. He has a good taste, goulash is wonderful :))

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Romina: you wrote: "you better have something good in the next chapter so that you can redeem yourself." Hm… I cannot promise anything like that right now. Be patient :)

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green smurf: you asked what my name meant. Well, my real given name is Agnes, and Agi is the Hungarian nickname for it. Vega is a star (I love astronomy). I'm going to check out your fic ASAP, okay?

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Notebook Girl: I have read lots of SW books… all the five that tell the films' story and lots of sequels as well. If you want to read good sequels, read the five books of Timothy Zahn. How could Tatyana be a squib if she had used several charms before? (like hypnotising Harry in his sleep, killing the pogrebins with Avada Kedavra, etc). You'll get to know soon why she needed his powers.

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Wood's secret lover: yes, I have names for all future characters. I guess Jessica is about 8-9 years old, right?

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Lavendar Brown: I'm running away from the people with pitchforks :)

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aurora riddle: yes, I named Lily deliberately after her grandma. No special reason for that, I just wanted her to have the same name, because she'll look a lot like Lily Evans. IMHO means In My Humble Opinion. I made up the charm (did you mean Exsugo vium magicae? Yes, that of course was made up by me. Rowling would never think of something THIS EVIL:) I have already written SW fics, but they were short and too sappy. I took them off ffnet. 

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Princesa (or Whit again): I love your Hungarian! :))

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J-Kid: you asked something interesting… that I cannot answer right now. You'll get to know it later. All wizards and witches can use each other's wands – remember Ron used Charlie's wand for two years and Lockhart used Ron's wand once. Of course a wizard can do magic the best way if he uses his own wand.

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Hayley Mills: I mainly read fantasy books, but my fave book (besides the HP books) is The count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. It's not fantasy, but still very cool.

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BlueIce: I'll gladly edit your novel during the summer holiday :) Btw, how old are you? I wrote my first novel at the age of 17, but now that I look back it was really stupid :) I'm sure yours will be better.

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Rab: what? Hayden Christensen resembles your cousin? Oh, you lucky one! 

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the coffee fiend: I guess English isn't that difficult. German is more difficult. And Hungarian is said to be one of the most difficult languages because of our terribly tricky inflections and conjugations. Foreigners are simply unable to learn them properly :) I guess Padme was really stupid to fall for Anakin's lines, LOL:) I really didn't like the romance part in EPII. It sucked. But the movie in general was cool.

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Mage: where are you going?

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X_Tow_Naga: did you do well on your test? The HP video and DVD came out in Hungary about two weeks BEFORE in the USA. I was quite surprised by it :) I think Jacen is irritating. And Jaina is stuck-up. I would rather have killed Jacen, not Annie. I think Hermione was still trying to persuade herself that she had read the book wrong, and she was trying to figure out something how to make sure that Tatyana wouldn't do it for the third time – and when she realised that she couldn't make up anything, she decided that all she could do was to tell Harry the truth. The ring DID tell Ginny, just wait it out. How can someone win if they are doing it together? Well – one or two of them might not be good at teamwork and that would mean loss of points. About the netherworld and the ghosts: I believe that Rowling said in an interview, that she'll clear this up in book 5 or 6 – she'll tell us why certain people turn into ghosts, why others don't. So wait for her explanation.

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One-Winged Butterfly: LOL, I loved The greatest _____of_____:)) When will you see the Dursleys again? In chapter 38. A whole chappie on the Dursleys! I'm glad you started to like them, LOL!

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Hazel Harman for Pandie: I'll try and read Hazel's fic as soon as I'm ready with my exams, okay? You're 24, Pandie? Oh, I'm always so happy when I get to know that I have a couple of 'mature' readers as well :))

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Faunix: my Latin dictionary doesn't have a brand, it's just a simple dictionary with only the title "Hungarian-Latin" and the author of it. Should it have a brand? I don't think so.

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LilGinny: no, Ron doesn't know about Herm's pregnancy – yet.

Also thanks to: _apple-pie, Any last requests, Bienfoy_, _Qahira Galatea, SpoiledGurl2687, Heart2Heart, Blondie in Disguise, nutty buddy, Black Ice, Katie Bell, Ari Potter, AmadaPanda, Saphron, Laurenna, K.C. Hunter, Harrysgirl, PepsiAngel, Cassandra Anthemyst, Ksiezniczka, Bucky, Lady Schezar, princesswitch, Myrtle, teacherchez, phoenix6545, Maddy, Mabel Weasley, zzxm, MidniteSunrise, goldenstar555, Lady Lupin, CaittyLin, Derkaun Zarion, nutmeg, Hazel Harman, jennaration, JennyKT, PadmeSkywalker, jeanine23Dr, cara, Rose_

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Chapter 25

One ring to tell her all

She snatched the torch out of its bracket, muttered an incantation, and a hidden door opened in the wall. 

She entered. 

A magically propelled elevator set into motion and took her down into a secret corridor where only one stone door could be seen.

"_Admitto_!" she demanded and the huge stone slid aside to reveal a chamber with a bier in it.

There were seven candles lit around the bier: three-three on either side and one at the farther end.

A man with long black beard was lying on the bier with a pale complexion. He wasn't dead, though – the rising and falling of his chest indicated that he was alive.

She stepped to him with a smile on her face. "It has happened at last, Anor. I have the power I needed to wake you up… after a thousand years of vain waiting you can come back from your eternal sleep, my love… and you and I can rule over the wizarding world." she bent down so that their faces were only inches apart. "_Revenio ex sempiternus somnus_!" she breathed, kissing him on the lips gently.

As they mouths touched, a blinding but diffuse white light engulfed both of them, then it organised itself into a beam that disappeared into the man's body. 

She retreated, watching as a tremor ran down his body and his eyes fluttered open. 

"Natasha!" he whispered.

* * * * *

"You can't go on acting like this, Fred!" Ginny said. 

"Why not?" he growled.

"Because you keep threatening people away! No one's interested in the Wheezes anymore!"

"Great, so you care for my business but not for me!"

"You know it's not like that!" she retorted. "You're my brother and I love you, but George's also my brother and I love him, too!"

"Then go and be with him!" he slapped the counter in Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

"You're so… impossible!"

"Impossible?" he laughed harshly. "Now tell me, little sister, what would you do to Hermione if she seduced your hubby, huh?"

"I'd kill her, I guess."

"That's what I wanted to do to George." Fred replied. "And he's my brother, not just a friend."

"Then at least think of Angelina and her baby! What is going to happen to them?"

"Who cares?" Fred shrugged. 

"Don't tell me that you don't care!" she snapped. "I know you do! You love her even if she slept with George!"

"Look who's talking!" Fred spat. "As I heard you were completely miserable when you thought that Harry had cheated on you."

"That has nothing to do with our discussion, Fred! And besides, now I know that he'd never ever sleep with anyone else!"

"But what if he did? Just in theory? What would you do if you got to know that he slept with someone else?" he asked.

"I don't know… but I have learnt from the last case… I have learnt not to jump to conclusions without knowing what really happened… So I think I'd give him a chance to explain… maybe he was bewitched or deceived… didn't know what he was doing… just like Angelina. So give her a chance, Fred. Believe in her innocence and continue loving her. Please…"

"I wish everything was so simple for me and Angelina as it is for you and Harry." Fred sighed. "You're so lucky, sis."

"I know." she smiled. "I love him so much…" her eyes wandered down to her right hand with the wedding ring on it.

For a second Fred thought that she had gone crazy, because she held the ring close to her eyes that were showing the haunted look of lunatics.

"No… no, please…" she whispered.

"What happened, sis?" Fred asked, worried.

"Harry… Harry's… something terrible has happened to him…" she showed him the ring. "The gem isn't glowing."

"What exactly does it mean?"

"I don't even dare imagine what it means..." she whispered with a stony face. "I don't even dare imagine… 

"What… what if he just took it off?" Fred suggested.

"No, he has sworn that he'd never take it off!" she shouted, desperate. "No… I'm sure he hasn't taken it off… it has to mean something else…" she was practically hyperventilating. "About two weeks ago I almost got a heart-attack when the gem started to flicker in a mad way… I had almost teleported myself to Durmstrang, but then it stopped flickering and continued to glow in the normal way… I don't know what happened to Harry then, but I thought that he couldn't be in danger if the flickering stopped. Maybe he was just beaten up by someone again, but wasn't in real danger… I don't know." she sighed. "I wanted to make sure whether he was all right, but since the gem wasn't showing danger anymore, I couldn't get to Durmstrang… Maybe this time I could… I could get to him… I'm not sure it's going to work now that the gem isn't glowing, but I've got to try…" she closed her eyes and concentrated, picturing Harry, wanting to get to him… to no avail.

She opened her eyes and let out a resigned sigh. "Impossible. There's no connection between the rings… I fear that Harry… might be…"

"No." Fred gripped her hands. "He is alive, sis. Believe me, he is."

"I want to believe you, Fred." she said, tears brimming her eyes. "But what am I going to do now? What…? I've got to get to Durmstrang, but… oh!" she slapped her forehead. "I know! Tell mum to take care of the kids for me!"

"Gin!" Fred shouted but she had already disapparated.

* * * * *

Meanwhile, the three champions were walking down the twisting cave, barely uttering a word. They were in no mood for talking at all. 

Magical torches illuminated the cave's insides. This kind of magical illumination didn't provide too much of light, but it was enough for the champions to see what they were doing and for the spectators to see the actions taking place in the cave.

As the champions arrived to a small, frozen creek, three boggarts emerged from behind a couple of ice stalagmites. 

Dennis' boggart turned into Malcolm Baddock, yelling that 'You couldn't win the tournament, Creevey! You are pathetic little bungler who does not deserve to be a Gryffindor! You should have been put into Hufflepuff!"

Dennis flipped his wand saying _Ridikkulus_! and forced Malcolm into a pink, frilly dress with pink, rose-patterned umbrella and a pair of pink, fluffy slippers.

"Creevey! What have you done to me??? To a Slytherin???" he bellowed and vanished as Guillaume burst into laughter. He couldn't laugh long, though, because another boggart started gaining on him, turning into… Gilderoy Lockhart.

"Noooooooo!" Guillaume shrieked. 

"Yeeeeeeees!" Gilderoy replied, sneering. "I am your worst nightmare, boy, because you know that I'm prettier than you are!"

"But not for long!" the blonde champion raised his wand, shouting _Ridikkulus_! With a pop the Lockhart-boggart sprouted pimples and too long front teeth that looked worse than Hermione's had been.

As Dennis and Guillaume's laughter filled the cave, making its ceiling shudder a bit, the boggart vanished, but the third one swooped down on Mileta and turned into… Harry Potter.

"You silly, silly girl!" the boggart-Harry said with a furious expression. "Did you think, did you really think I'd ever like you?"

Mileta straightened herself, holding her head in the air, trying to look nonchalant, but Dennis saw that she was on the verge of tears. She raised her wand with a trembling hand, but couldn't divert her eyes from Harry's face that she found – even with its furious expression – overwhelmingly sweet. Her knees buckled and she dropped her wand, starting to sob. The boggart glided closer to her until it was close enough for her to touch, but she didn't – couldn't – do anything.

"Intervention!" Guillaume suggested to Dennis, who nodded, and they both raised their wands to shout _Ridikkulus!_ The boggart-Harry was forced to wear a pince-nez with green lenses and yellow Quidditch robes with the sign of a skunk on it.

"Ewww, I wanted to give him a badger… of Hufflepuff." Dennis apologised after the boggart disappeared. "I don't dare imagine my scores when we get out from here! I s'pose Harry won't give me any after this!"

"You're still luckier than me!" Mileta sniffed. "If people out there saw my boggart, then everyone knows already that I… that I…"

"…love Harry." Dennis sighed.

"Yes." she wiped her tears. "I'm so sorry, Dennis. I know you have… um, certain feelings for me, but I love him, not you."

"It's okay, Mil. Really." Dennis said with a sad smile.

"Would you two stop deescussing your love life and move on?" Guillaume cut in impatiently. 

"All right." 

They left the stalagmites behind - the two boys in rather good mood, Mileta rather embarrassed – after about five minutes of walk they reached a part of the cave where it widened a bit to reveal a small ice-chamber with a long table carved of ice in it. The table was packed with bottles of all shapes and sizes. At least twenty bottles.

"What is this?" Dennis furrowed his brow. "Some kind of Potions exam?" he mused. He had heard about Snape's task that was solved by Hermione's logic. However, there was no poem or any kind of description on this table… nothing but the flasks and vials. 

"I don't know." Mileta shook her head. "What are we supposed to do now?"

"No idea… ouch!" Guillaume shouted, massaging his arm.

"What happened?"

"Something bit me!" the French champion replied, blanching.

"Something… what?" Dennis asked.

"It was… small… hehe… black… furry…" Lochar started to giggle, sitting down on the icy ground. "hahaha…with lacy wings…"

"A doxy." Dennis perceived. "I don't want to discourage you, Guillaume, but doxies have poisonous teeth."

"Do… do they?" the blonde boy turned even paler, but didn't stop laughing. "Am hehe… am I… going to die?"

"Of course no!" Mileta snapped. "The poison of the doxies isn't lethal, just makes you rather silly for a while… not that you aren't silly already…" she sighed. "It makes you laugh so that you cannot stop."

"What can we do now?" Dennis asked in a worried voice. Not that he was really worried about Lochar, still… this task was about co-operation, thus he and Mileta had to save Guillaume now. But how?

"Haven't you paid attention at a single Potions class?" the girl knitted her eyebrows. 

"Should I have?"

"Of course!" she snapped. "It is clear why they put these vials here: they knew that one of us would be bitten and they wanted to know whether we knew how to cure it!"

"You mean… we should make an antidote?" Creevey gasped.

"Exactly." she nodded, stepping to the table. "Let's see… give me the bottle with bat-bile, would you?"

"What?" Dennis asked, disgusted.

"That small one with the greenish liquid over there!" she pointed at a flask. "Really, don't you know what bat-bile looks like?"

"I only know what professor Snape looks like and that was enough to make me lose my interest for Potions." Dennis growled, handing her the required bottle. Meanwhile, Guillaume was hysterically laughing, pummeling the ground with his fists, his whole body convulsing with laughter.

Mileta sighed, pouring a bit of bat-bile into a flask half full of powdered ginger roots.

Dennis kept handing her bowls until she decided that the antidote was ready.

"I'm not sure I have made the right potion…" she said insecurely. "We've got to experiment a bit on Guillaume."

"I don't mind experimenting on him." Dennis grinned and held the still madly laughing boy in place until Mileta managed to force a bit of the potion down his throat. "Well… I don't know… he's still laughing." Dennis perceived after two minutes. "And look at those pretty lilac spots he has sprouted!"

"Oh, no! I have added a pint too much asphodel!" she wailed, stepping to the table again, madly searching for something. Finally she chose a little flask with acid-blue liquid and spilt two droplets of it into the remainder of the potion. "If this doesn't work, then I give up." she crouched down to Guillaume – whose face meanwhile had turned totally purple – and made him drink the modified antidote.

Lochar immediately stopped laughing and stood up.

"What took you so long?" he growled at Mileta and marched off.

Dennis and the girl exchanged amused glances – Guillaume's face was still purple, unbeknownst to him. "If they are watching us now, they must be in stitches." Dennis whispered, making Mileta giggle. "Really, Mileta, you must be really good at Potions… or at least that Professor Fiodrovna must be a very good teacher."

"That bitch?" she snapped, then slapped her hands on her mouth, looking around nervously. Had the teachers heard her last comment?

Dennis had no idea what made Mileta describe her professor as a bitch, but he didn't care. They had to move on – there was still a lot left of the cave.

After a couple of other traps – enchantments, mainly - they reached a place where the cave widened into some kind of a huge, underground room. There was a banshee waiting for them, her long, black hair covering almost her whole body.

"Now, any ideas how to vindicate a banshee?" Lochar asked.

"None at all." Mileta replied as the banshee started to shriek, succeeding in making the room's ceiling cave in on them with her scream. Before they got squashed by the ice-ceiling, Dennis shouted '_Banish Banshee_!', silencing, then making her disappear.

"Great." he growled, eyeing the huge heap of snow and littered ice-stalactites that had been loosened from the ceiling by the banshee's shrill voice. "The path's totally blocked. Anyone knows a good charm?"

"_Reducto_, I guess." Mileta said uncertainly.

"Or we could just melt it with _Incendio_." Dennis added.

"O' course, and let ourselves drown. Breeliant idea, Creevey." Lochar growled.

"Then do it yourself if you're so clever!" Mileta snapped.

"Zat's really easy." Guillaume replied superciliously. "At Christmas we always 'ave ice sculptures all aroun' ze Beauxbatons castle. I've made a few o' zem myself because I'm really talented." he raised his wand, pointed it at the heap of snow, saying: _'Statua glacies!_'

In a second the huge pile of ice and snow arranged itself into twenty neatly polished, smiling statues of Guillaume himself.

Dennis rolled his eyes and Mileta shook her head in disbelief.

"You know, Creevey…" Lochar whispered to him so that the judges outside surely couldn't hear it through the _Videus Camericus_ charm, "I'm sure zat ze judges 'ave seen zis and zey are going to award me lots o' points for it."

"Be happy with your points and shut up!" Dennis growled. "Let's move, guys, I want to finish with this cave. We are almost at the end. I want to get outta here as soon as possible it's so damn cold!"

"All right." Mileta said, stepping forward – and slipping. Guillaume's charm seemed not only have packed the littered snow away, but had vanished snow from the ground as well, revealing the polished-mirror-like surface of an underground lake. 

"Arrrgh!" she yelped, not being able to stop herself from skidding towards Lochar's ice-statues.

Everything happened in two or three seconds, so the other two champions couldn't even stop it: Mileta collided with the first sculpture that tumbled over, hitting the one next to it, that also fell, turning over the next that hit the next… until all twenty statues fell as a result of the domino-effect, making the cave shudder again – this time much more seriously than in the banshee's case. 

"Duck!" Dennis yelled, snatching the hem of Mileta's robes, pulling her into a crevice Guillaume had already climbed into. The three of them watched, horror-stricken, as one of the room's icy walls – the one that had been hit by the last falling statue – caved in.

Snow was pouring from everywhere, hiding the rest of the underground room from their eyes.

The tumbling wall was making a noise that mysteriously sounded like thunder or the roar of the Niagara.

When the noise finally faded away and the shuddering stopped, the three champions moved out from their hiding place, walking up to the remainders of the wall that had caved in.

"Amazing!" Dennis breathed.

"Frozen in ice?" Mileta grimaced.

"Do you think it was part of the task?" Guillame asked.

"No." Mileta said. "Impossible. We would never have found… _this_, if we hadn't made the wall cave in."

"You mean if _you _haven't made it cave in." the blonde boy commented.

"It wasn't my fault, really!" she snapped. "You have made the floor so slippery when you conjured those stupid sculptures of yourself!"

"Stop bickering, will you?" Dennis cut in furiously. "Be a bit serious! We have to talk to the teachers. They need to know about… _him_."

Guillaume turned around, starting to wave madly with his hands. 

"What are you doing?" Mileta asked.

"Trying to catch ze teachers' attention!" he replied, jumping.

"Do you reckon they see us?" Dennis shouted.

"'Course zey do!" Guillaume nodded, carrying on waving.

Dennis turned back to the 'vanishing wall'. "This is creepy. He looks so… alive."

"He's just not moving." Mileta commented. "Really scary. Reckon we could melt him out?"

"Yeah, put him into the micro-wave oven!" Dennis rolled his eyes.

"Into the what?" Mileta gaped.

"Never mind. Muggle stuff."

"Why aren't ze teachers coming?" Guillaume started to worry. "Zey must 'ave seen us by now!"

"We should go and tell them." Dennis said. "Maybe they haven't seen us. Maybe there's no magic camera in this room, or even if there was one, it might have got destroyed by the falling chunks of ice."

The other two champions agreed and they continued their way down in the cave that narrowed into a normal path again. A dozen of red-caps lunged at them from behind rocks, but after professor Lupin's DADA classes, they weren't any danger for Dennis, who easily disarmed them.

After another half an hour of walk, Mileta exclaimed: "Look! I see light! Sunlight! We've reached the end!"

"Hurray!" Dennis yelled in glee and all three of them started running in the direction of the light.

In one moment they were still in the dark cave, in the next one they were blinking in the sunshine, taking deep breaths of the cold but clean air that they welcomed after having spent hours in the stale air of the cave.

To their surprise, no one ran up to them to greet them, not a single cheering voice could be heard from the coast of the lake.

The champions looked around in awe. There were the three magic screens still showing the cave's inside, but there was no spectator to look at it. No one at all.

"Where's everyone gone?" Dennis breathed.

"S'pose they got bored and returned to the castle?" Mileta suggested.

"Don't be silly, Krum." Guillaume frowned. "Zey're gone, but… look… zey've left stuff behind… a notebook… a half-eaten sandwich… a broken mirror…" he lifted up the mirror's remainder, then let out a scream of terror: "What 'appened to my face???!!!??"

"Who cares for your face?" Dennis grunted. "I want to know WHERE THEY ARE!!!???"

* * * * *

Draco Malfoy was sitting in the living room of Devilsmoor Manor – and old house that had once belonged to his mother's family. Since he had graduated from Hogwarts, he had been living in this manor, away from his parents. Somehow he felt Lucius and Narcissa a burden.

He was reading a book but couldn't really pay attention to it. His thoughts kept wandering, making him imagine far-away places and picture people he hadn't seen in a while… especially a certain woman.

The doorbell rang.

*Kinky will go and answer it.* he thought, burying himself into his book on undetectable potions again.

After a minute the doorbell rang again.

"Kinky!" Draco shouted. "Go and open it!"

There was no reply.

"Oh, that stupid, sex-maniac elf! She must be somewhere, frolicking with a male elf again!" Draco growled, standing up. "I'll make her punish herself when she gets back! No male elves for a whole year!" he swore and ripped the door open to see who his visitor was.

It happened to be Ginny Potter.

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A/N2: Latin explanations: _Admitto!_ = let me in! (some kind of Alohomora, I just wanted to use another word for it.

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Revenio ex sempiternus somnus = to awake someone from an eternal sleep (I guess. I still don't speak Latin.)

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statua glacies = ice statue

I borrowed the name 'Anor' from the New Jedi Order series, where an evil guy is called Nom Anor. I just thought it sounded really evil.

The description for doxy can be found in Fantastic beasts and where to find them (though I made up the hysterically laughing part). Rowling only wrote that the doxies had poisonous teeth.

I know I should have put more action into the second task, but in this chapter the emphasis was not really on the task, but on other things that happened during it – things that will be revealed later.

Of course I took the chapter's title from Lord of the Rings, just re-wrote it.


	26. Indecent proposal

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A/N: sorry for being so late with the update, but I was busy with my exams (I had three last week, and one of them was on Saturday! Yes, on weekend!!! I was soooo mad about it!). You also have to get used to the thought that I'm going to update more rarely now, because as soon as my exams are over I'll move to the family's weekend house where I don't have a computer. I'll come home usually once a week, so you might get one chapter a week – but I can't promise even that. Be patient with me, please!

Really, tell me, when does school start again in the USA? At the beginning of September?

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The face of Evil: I'm going to prove you that the Creevey-brothers are two wizards in a Muggle family – the following quotation is from HP and the chamber of secrets: Colin tells Harry: 'I never knew all the odd stuff I could do was magic till I got the letter from Hogwarts. My dad's a milkman, he couldn't believe it either.' This means that the Creeveys' father had no idea about magic at all. Thus it's a Muggle family, and it accidentally had two wizards in it (or one ancestor of theirs could be magic but they didn't know about it). Your guess about the 'super hero' was close:) I'm glad you liked the description of the task.

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Aimee: you won't find out soon where everyone went. Wait till chapter… 28 or rather 29:) You'll see plenty of Fred/George in chapters 28, 32 and 33 (as far as I remember). Oh, my mum is really cool! All my friends say that they envy me for having such a great mum! She's really modern-minded and likes everything (well, almost everything) that I like. She likes HP, Star Wars… she really has a good taste:)

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rebkos: so, three books in the series 'His dark materials'? Great, then I'll be able to read all of them soon, because the Hungarian publisher promised to publish two more books of it this year. I've just finished reading book one, it was quite good. Pantalaimon is soooo cute! He's my favourite character! Lord Asriel and Marisa Coulter give me the creeps… two people who loved each other so much… and now they are both so cold and cruel! I don't like them! Really, did Roger die at the end of book one? I re-read the end twice, but I couldn't find it out – it was only told that his body was lying in Lyra's arms, but was he dead or just unconscious?

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One-Winged Butterfly: the story is 39 chapters long, so you'll see the Dursleys near the end. You asked how loosing his magic could affect the ring. Well, the gems in the rings function by the magic in the bodies of the bearers (Ginny and Harry) - there has to be a connection between the magic in H and G. So, when Harry lost his powers, the connection was broken and the light in Ginny's ring went out (it went out in Harry's ring too, of course).

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Waldomier: what does ERG mean?

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PepsiAngel: I'm so happy you're a Gilderoy fan! There's so few of us! :(( I really don't understand why… Gildy rocks! Whenever I read the Gilderoy-parts of book2, I feel like melting – he's so cute and soooo funny! My absolutely favourite character! More about Tatyana and the disappearing audience in chapter 28.

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LilGinny: no, Tatyana hasn't done this magic-sucking thing before, Harry was her first victim. You'll get to know why. You'll see Ron's reaction to the pregnancy in chapter 29 and after that.

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Rab: yes, that person will be important. I cannot answer your other question, sorry.

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blaubaerin: no, I haven't read anything from Wolfgang Hohlbein. Tiefgang? Well, I guess 'depth' is the right word for it. I didn't want to use Salazar Slytherin, because he had been brought back in several fanfics before. I didn't want to copy them. I haven't seen Ice Age yet, but I'm going to, as soon as I'm ready with my exams. I can't wait :)) (and I'm happy that your computer is working again! You'll be able to write me more often :) Btw, I don't watch the football world cup, because I don't like football at all.

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WolfEyes: no caveman and no mammoth :) 

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Caroline: you'll get to know what the sex part had to do with it. There will be an explanation in chapter 28 – actually a quotation from Beautiful Bill's Biography.

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AmandaPanda: sorry, but you aren't going to see Harry for a while :(

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princesswitch and_ Nefertiri: _read my answer to _One-Winged Butterfly_. 

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Paperdoll58: I have no idea who Natasha and Boris are, really. Yes, Mileta will do something to ruin H and G's relationship, of course. But she'll give up sooner of later :) No, Mileta won't be there in the next story *everyone cheering and jumping happily, I presume*:) I seriously hope that Rowling will make H and G get together. Otherwise I'd be very disappointed. I wouldn't really mind if Harry hooked up with Hermione (though for that Ron would have to die:(, but if Harry got together with Cho, I'd definitely freak out! I hate Cho!

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magicalmischiefmaker: you actually read TGSoHH? I never knew… since you never reviewed me. So, you think that this one is better? More sound technically? What do you mean by that? The structure of the story, the grammar or what? About the emotional part you're right – this story is much more emotion-based than the former one. How did I come up with a plot like this? Dunno… ideas just randomly come to me. (btw, your native language isn't English, is it? Just because you make incredibly lot of spelling mistakes – I don't want to offend you, but it's like that in your story as well. So, what is your native language?) ((you are THE magicalmischiefmaker who wrote Fond memories, right? I don't want to mistake your for someone else :))

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Lupin's Angel: feel free to put my fics on your fanfic page. (I just suggest you to get rid of all those A/Ns, they are way too long and irritating:)

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teacherchez: yes, of course Mileta knows that Tatyana slept with Harry, but she doesn't know about the sucking-his-powers-away-stuff. You asked whether I liked getting all these reviews. Well, of course I do, it's fun to read and answer them. 

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spangle*star: in chapter… er, 29, I guess, you'll get to know what the champions found in the cave.

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Tessa: what? No, that guy is called Anor and it's not Voldemort! Voldemort is dead – his body exploded at Stonehenge, nothing is left of it :)) 

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Aurumlupi: yes, THIS is the greatest shame.

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Notebook Girl: why did you hit your forehead with GoF? *just wondering*

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ur loyal phan: you're right, I confused the words 'poisonous' and 'venomous'. I meant to write that the doxy had venomous teeth (just like a snake), but I thought that 'poisonous' was the right word for it. So it's not a plot mistake, it's a translation mistake. Given that my native language isn't English, I make such mistakes sometimes. Tatyana will tell why she chose Harry.

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!Cedric!Diggory!Fan!: Ginny wasn't calm but she didn't start crying at once. She's really worried about Harry, of course. No, Malfoy won't be that evil to make Gin think he's Harry… but he'll be nasty enough, don't worry. About the far-fetched discussion between Fred/Gin and Gin's too simple conclusion: yes, she decided about it too simply, but at that time she had no idea that it was what really happened. In real life she'll react in another way, of course! Sorry, but… no Harry in this chapter, either. And no Harry for quite a long time… I'm terribly sorry to disappoint you all, people, but the plot doesn't let Harry appear right now :((  
When Hermione said Voldie's name in the movie I remember that I said aloud: 'how dare you?', and a woman sitting right in front of me in the cinema turned around to say 'shut up!' (I was commenting on everything and she was a bit annoyed, LOL:) I also loved Snape, your mum has a good taste :)) What am I reading until the release of book five? Well, I have just finished Northern Lights by Philip Pullman. I'm reading AotC by R.A. Salvatore and I'm also reading Don Quijote by Cervantes (LOL, that Don Quijote is such a fool!:) No, I haven't read V.C. Andrews, never heard of it. Haha… you really seem NOT to know anything about Star Wars, so it's time for you to watch all the SW films!

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green smurf: tell me when you update, okay? Read my answer to spangle*star.

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alli: then you will be mad with me:)) Don't worry, it won't be serious.

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Bucky: so nothing can surprise you anymore? Hm… good that you have such strong nerves – the other readers who don't, will surely produce some not so tepid 'Oh's :)) Yes, the baby is still a squib.

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Princesa: I love your Hungarian, really :)))

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Derkaun Zarion: no, Anor is of course no Yuuzhan Vong, because this is no crossover. My Anor is a simple human wizard. You asked how soon after this is over will I post the third one. Well, I'm still at the very beginning of it, I'll work on it during the summer holiday and hopefully I start uploading in September or October. This story will last until August, so you won't have to wait that long after it.

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hogwartsgirl228: how long does it take me to write a chapter? Well, 1-2 days if I have time. 3-4 days if I don't.

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Kristen Michelle: you'll coerce your mum to review me??? LOL:) Just tell her to tell me that she's your mu when she writes the review :) Hermione's babies will be the same gender.

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jeanine23Dr: have you received my mail of one week ago? Because I guess I wrote in there that "I wish to tell you how much I love you" in Hungarian is "Bárcsak elmondhatnám, mennyire szeretlek.!" Well, it doesn't matter, just tell me whether you got that mail (Tatyana's pic attached) or not. Ginny couldn't get to Durmstrang herself, because the connection between the rings had been broken. That's why she needs Draco. You know what? Your theory about F/G/A is very close to what I'm going to do with them :)

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aurora riddle: I didn't want to name the baby James, because I like the name Daniel better. A pince-nez is a very old type of glasses, people wore pince-nezes in the 18-19th centuries. No, the man in ice isn't Tatyana's lover, becuase her lover is the man in the hidden chamber.

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X_Tow_Naga: hey, it's totally okay for me if you write such short reviews, you really don't need to write novel-length ones :) Why didn't Gin apparate to Harry when the ring flickered? Because when she noticed that it was flickering, she wanted to get to Durmstrang, but in the next second it stopped flickering, so Ginny was a second or two late. No, your theory of Voldie/Quirrel/Tatyana isn't right. What did you mean by "none of the other review were submitted, were they?" I didn't get it.

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Afromonk: I'd be glad if you kept reviewing :)))

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Lily Chelstane: I'm happy that you like the story so much. Don't worry, I don't like the Harry-Tatyana thing either :) Damn bitch, Tatyana. 

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reviewer: the title isn't about Dan being a squib, but Harry losing his powers, so that's why it isn't centered around Daniel. You are right, there are lots of little plots, but I'll come back to all of them, so do not think that I'll leave them hanging in the air. They will all be solved by the end of the story.

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Steph: no, Harry losing his powers has nothing to do with Dan being a squib. The latter is genetic, the former is the result of pure evil.

Also thanks to: _K.C.Hunter, Alexander Pheonix, Super saya-Jin Gotan, Ari Potter, Kit Cloudkicker, Laurenna, zzxm, Faunix, The-Girl-Who-Lived, Rubyjuls1722, Saphron, Trekgirl01, Almah, Lavendar Brown, PadmeSkywalker, Mage, Lana Potter, Myrtle _

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Chapter 26

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Indecent proposal

"Weasley!" Draco gasped. 

"Potter." Ginny corrected.

"Whatever." he grunted. "What do you want here?"

"Let me in and I'll tell you."

"I'm in no mood for having guests." Draco said. "But all right, come in and be short."

She entered and he led her into the living room where his book on undetectable poisons still lay open. He sat down and gestured her to follow suit.

"Thanks." she took place in an armchair. "I won't be beating around the bush, Malfoy. I need your help."

"Excuse me?"

"I need to get to Durmstrang. Immediately. I supposed you might know where it is."

"How should I know?" Draco frowned.

"Your father was a death-eater. He knew Karkaroff as well, and according to Hermione, he wanted to send you to Durmstrang instead of Hogwarts."

"That doesn't mean that I know where it is." Draco crossed his arms.

"But your father surely knows." she replied calmly. "Ask him."

"Why do you want to go there?"

"To find Harry."

"Really? You can't bear to wait till Easter to have him back?" Draco raised an eyebrow. "A bit insatiable, aren't we?"

"This is not about sex." she said sternly. "Harry is in trouble. Serious trouble… he might be already dead."

"Then why are you in such a hurry?" Draco smirked. "If he's dead, he won't run away."

"Ha-ha. Listen, Malfoy, I have to find him… dead or alive. But as long as there's a little hope to find him alive, I need to hurry." she stood up from the armchair and walked over to the sofa, seating herself next to him. "I have to get there. I love him. Maybe love doesn't have a meaning for you, Malfoy, but one day it may… and then you'll understand what I feel now. Have mercy and help me. Please."

He stared into her eyes, mesmerised. Heavens, she was so beautiful! So sweet! So… deeply in love… with another man.

"What will you give me if I help you?" he asked coldly.

"Whatever you want."

"Even…?" his eyes roamed over her body, sizing her up like a hungry wolf would size up its victim.

"I told you." she said, not flinching from his unabashed stare. "Whatever you want. I hate the pure thought of you touching me, but I'd do anything to help the man I love." she stated with such resolution that appalled Draco.

"Er… that's a good little wife. Everything for her hubby. Really. I almost envy Potter…" he replied in a dreamy tone. "But you have to pay in advance." he added in a much more business-like way. 

"In advance?" she hissed.

"Of course, Weasley." he shrugged. "It's business, and I'm a good businessman. I know that if you find Potter with my help, you'll refuse to settle your debt… and he won't let you do it, either. That's why I want it in advance."

"You may be a good businessman, Malfoy, but I know a bit of business myself, and have enough brains to know that you won't help me after I 'pay' you. What about… the half of it now, the other half after we've found Harry." she said.

"The half?" he blinked. "This is no money that you can divide into halves!"

"Really?" she shot him an innocent stare. "Then let it be the whole thing… afterwards."

"After you have found him?"

"Yes."

"You really think I'm a fool."

"No. All I think is that you are the guy who knows where Durmstrang is." she replied. "And you are going to tell me how to get there."

"I like determined women." he grinned. "All right, persuaded me, Weasley."

"Potter."

"Whatever. Come, father's got a map somewhere in the library… lucky that it's here, not in Malfoy Manor… by the way, how have you found me? How did you know that I was here?"

"Asked your little girl-friend, Pansy."

"Ex-girlfriend."

"Whatever." she shrugged. "She was quite willing to tell me where you were. She seems to hate you."

"What a surprise!" he grunted. "I bless the moment when I broke up with her."

"Strange…" Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Pansy happened to tell the story in another way. She told me _she_ had broken up with you."

"It's non of your business."

"True. Let's go into that library, then."

* * * * *

"There." Draco had rolled out a parchment on the table. "See this place with the ice-cave and the four stones?"

"Yeah." she nodded. "Is that Durmstrang?"

"No. That's just a stable portkey."

"A what?"

"A stable portkey. The four stones together are the portkey. It's been there for centuries. If you stand among the four stones and touch two of them with your hands, then you'll be transported right to the school. It's good because hardly anyone knows about its existence. There's _The Dancing Bear _as well…"

"What?"

"A pub in St. Petersburg. It has a direct floo-route to Durmstrang. It is the only fireplace in whole Russia that is connected to the school."

"A fireplace connected to the school?" she frowned. "I thought Durmstrang was very well-hidden. How can it be hidden if people can simply go there through the floo-network?"

"Oh, there's a tricky charm… you know the fireplace at _The Dancing Bear_ memorises who had come from Durmstrang in the past, and lets them back if they want to go… but it does not admit people who had never come _from _the school only want to _get there_. Do you understand?"

"Yeah. I'm not stupid." she snapped. "So I can't go that way. Should I go to those four stones, then?"

"S'pose so." he shrugged. "We've got to apparate to the stones, whose co-ordinates are…"

"_We_?" she cut in. "You said _we_?"

"'Course I said _we_. I'm not letting you go there alone." he replied. "If I want to get paid, I can't let you get killed by a stray polar-bear or something."

"Oh, how very sweet of you!" she snorted. "For a second I thought you were acting out of humanity."

"_Humanity_?" he laughed. "Me – human? I am a monster, remember?"

"Sometimes." she said quietly. "But deep down you are also human, Malfoy."

"No one can prove that I am."

"Shall we bet?"

"All right." he nodded. "If you can prove me that I have human feelings, then you'll be exempted from the… payment."

"Deal!" she stretched out her hand and he shook it. "I'm going to prove it, Malfoy!"

"You wish, Weasley!"

"Potter!"

* * * * *

They apparated at the middle of a snowy field, about a mile from the four stones that served as the top-secret portkey to Durmstrang.

"It's cold here." Ginny rubbed her arms.

"Of course it's cold. You should have brought a winter coat."

"It _is_ a winter coat." she retorted. "But it's designed for the winter in Great Britain, not for the Russian winter."

"You should have thought of that. Cast a simple heating charm on yourself and you'll be all right."

"Oh, okay." she implemented the charm and felt better immediately. "Where exactly are we now?"

"Latitude 60° north, longitude 30° east."

"Could you put it in a bit clearer way?"

"We are near St. Petersburg, in the Finnish Bay."

"Oh." she nodded, a bit uncertainly.

"Geography really should be taught as a compulsory subject at Hogwarts…" Draco said. "or rather not…since certain people can't even afford a map."

"We do have maps at home! We always did!" she snapped at the insult of her family's former financial circumstances. 

"But you never open them, right?"

"Malfoy, you…" she felt like slapping him or at least tell him off properly, when the ground under them started to shudder. "What's this? Earthquake?"

"Dunno…" he replied as the shuddering stopped. "As far as I know the four stones are on the coast, so we, at the moment, might be standing right upon the frozen surface of the Baltic Sea."

"But why does the ice shudder?" she worried. "It does not indicate that it's going to break under us, does it?"

"Hopefully not. Lucky that we haven't brought your mother, though. I'm not sure the ice could support her weight."

"Another insult and you'll regret it!" Ginny said, pointing her wand at Draco.

"Oh, will I?" he sneered. "What will you do to me? Paint me like Peeves did?"

"Not a bad idea, but it's no use here at the back of beyond where no one can see you and laugh at you." she replied, walking towards the stones that still looked terribly far away.

"Tell me, Weasley, how many people have you shown that pic of me?"

"Oh," she grinned at him, "whenever a new guest comes to our house, the first thing Harry and I do is show them your picture. Once an Indian witch visited us and liked the picture so much that she asked where she could find you. She said she liked such 'colourful personalities'. We refused to tell her where to find you, because we aren't _that_ perverse... That witch was at least ninety years old and had no more than four teeth."

"Oh, I should be grateful now, shouldn't I?" he snorted. "Ooooooh… watch out!" the ground under them started to move again, and the snowy surface began to break.

"We're really standing on frozen ice!" she yelled, trying to keep her balance, as the chunk of ice that Draco was standing on, drifted a couple of metres away. "Malfoy!" she screamed. "Do something!"

"Whaaaat?" he shouted back.

"I don't know! Anything! A charm!"

"I can't think of any!"

"Oh, great! The famous Slytherin cleverness!" she fumed.

"It's not exactly cleverness, rather cunning, Weasley! The clever are in Ravenclaw, the stealthy are in Slytherin!"

"Whatever! Cool that you can philosophise even in mortal peril!" she shouted, then suddenly paled. There was something in the water under them. "Malfoy! Something's moving here!"

"Fish, I guess!" he replied.

"Nope. Bigger." she gulped.

"Godzilla?" he laughed.

"What?"

"A Muggle movie."

"I thought you hated everything in connection with Mu… aaaaargh!" she shrieked as something incredibly, horribly big emerged from the icy water. "Malfoy, watch out!"

It was late. 

The thing had caught Draco, lifting him up several metres with its coils.

It was a giant sea-snake – white, scaly and scary.

"Help!" Malfoy shouted, trying to get free, but the huge monster held him strongly.

"Oh, what should I do?!?" Ginny whispered. "All right, let's try this… _Stupefy!"_

The curse bounced off the skin of the serpent as though nothing had hit it. "No… _Petrificus Totalus!"_ the creature didn't even feel it. "Oh, don't eat him, please, I still need him!" she shouted in a desperate way.

The serpent suddenly stopped moving, as if mesmerised. It glanced at Ginny with its yellow eyes that – strangely to her – didn't show any sign of evilness. 

A second later it let go of Malfoy - who fell into the water with a huge splash - and disappeared into the depth of the sea.

"Ginny!" he shouted, trying to hoist himself up onto a bigger ice-floe. His attempts seemed to be futile, since the ice was slippery, so were his wet hands.

"Hold out!" she yelled, jumping from her piece of drift-ice onto the next one, and the next one, until she arrived at the one that Malfoy was trying to climb onto. "Give me your hand!" she reached out, but he had drifted too far away. "All right, then, _Wingardium Leviosa_!" she swished and flicked with her wand, lifting him out of the water.

"Damn, it's sooooo cooold…" his teeth were chattering.

"You've got to get into dry clothes, immediately, or you'll freeze to death! My warming charm won't be enough now!"

"Glad to hear." he replied, shivering madly.

"Come, we've got to reach that cave over there! Do you think you can walk up to it?" 

"I'll have to." he growled, and they jumped from ice-floe to ice-floe, finally reaching solid ground.

"Don't you think we should rather get portkeyed into Durmstrang?" she asked as they reached the mouth of the cave. "I'm sure you could warm up there much easier. Take a hot bath or something."

"No." he shook his head as they entered the cave. "We don't know… what we'll find in Durmstrang, and I… don't want to face… the unknown in my present condition. I need to… warm up and get well before… before we go there. We might have to fight or something… I'll need my strength."

"All right." she nodded, accepting his reasoning. "Start undressing. I won't look."

She turned away, pointed her wand at the ground, conjuring a heap of twigs, then saying _Incendio! _

She pulled a blanket out of her rucksack (Malfoy had lost his in the water). "Here. Wrap this around yourself."

"Thanks." he practically ripped the blanket out of her hands, covering himself with it.

"You look terrible." she perceived, seating herself on a rock near the fire. His lips had turned blue, but his face was white, almost translucent. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering. "Move closer to the fire." she suggested. "And you could do with a heating charm as well."

"Go ahead." he nodded.

"_Calor_." she pointed her wand at him, implementing the requested charm. "Feel any better?"

"A bit." he nodded, still incredibly white. "But it is common knowledge that the best way of warming up people is to share body heat."

"In your dreams, Malfoy." she gave him a grimace.

"Hey, come on, you'll have to drop your clothes in front of me sooner or later… does it matter when you do it?"

"It does." she said coldly. "And it's by far not sure that you'll ever get the chance to see me without my clothes."

"Ah, you refer to our little bet." he smirked.

"Yes."

"You'll lose it, because you won't be able to prove that I have any human feelings."

"You know, I start to fear that you are right." she huffed. "I've just saved your life and you, instead of being grateful, want to get me laid."

"That's in my nature. I can't do anything against it." he shrugged. "Malfoy blood."

"I already feel sorry for any future child of yours." she commented.

"Do you?" he raised an eyebrow. "Even if there's a possibility that you might be its mother?"

"Where do you get your delusions from, Malfoy?" Ginny folded her arms before her chest.

"Delusions? What delusions?"

"The delusion that makes you think I'll ever give birth to a child that is yours. That's absurd."

"Why? You are going to _pay me_, Weasley… and who knows? You might get pregnant."

"If I ever got pregnant with your child, I'd get rid of it right away." she replied with a stare that made him feel like being in the icy water again. "Anyway, it'll never come to that. I'll see to it."

"Did you see to it when you got pregnant with your son?" he asked with an amused expression. He still remembered the 'Potions' lesson that turned out to be sex education – in which Potter told the whole class about his futile attempts at protection. "You couldn't prevent getting pregnant, could you?"

Ginny didn't reply straight away – she watched as the flames painted golden and orange stripes on the rocky ground. She didn't reply, just stared.

After a couple of minutes she finally spoke up: "I still don't know how it happened. No one knows. It wasn't supposed to happen… it's the biggest riddle of my life. The uncertainty is sometimes driving me crazy… I want to know how it happened, why it happened…" she looked up to see Draco's grey eyes watching her intently. "…and now I have another unsolved riddle... well, two."

"What?" he asked.

"First… how could you know that Gozilla or what? I thought that the pureblood Mr. Malfoy would know nothing about Muggle movies."

"Oh, that." the young man grimaced. "It was Pansy."

"Who? Gozilla?"

"No. The one who persuaded me to go and watch a movie. After we came out of the theatre, I told her that it was the first and last Muggle date we ever had."

"Aha. Did you like the movie?"

"No. The ads before it were much more interesting." Draco replied. "And that popcorn stuff tasted quite good. Otherwise… what was your third unsolved riddle?" he asked hastily, indicating that he didn't want to chat about Muggles.

"Why did that snake go away?" she looked into his icy-grey eyes. "Just like that? Why didn't it eat you?"

"Oh, the greatest riddle of Ginny Weasley's life: why didn't the serpent have Draco Malfoy for dinner? Cool." he grunted. "You _really _have no idea?"

"No. Should I?"

"It left because you told it to leave."

"I told it?" she blinked.

"At least I guess that was what you said." he shrugged. "I couldn't understand it, you know."

"Why not?"

"'Cause you told it in Parseltongue."

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A/N: another cliffie – well, kind of :)

Latin explanation: calor = heat


	27. Hide and seek

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A/N: hello, my friends, I'm back after this very long break**. **Sorry for not having updated so long after ffnet was back to normal, but I was busy (put it this way: I was on holiday, that means I was busy:)Thanks for the reviews you sent for the previous chapter!

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spangle*star: last time I checked the keys to my weekend-house weren't stolen and the house was still in one piece. However, I like the idea of getting a PC from you – or a laptop :))))

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PepsiAngel: don't worry, I won't turn you a D/G shipper, because I'm not one either. Malfoy meant by saying that they might have to fight at Durmstrang that if Harry had been seriously hurt then it might mean that others were also harmed at Durmstrang, and you may never know whether the people who hurt them are still there or not.

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izean, Charm, Lily Chelstane, Harrysgirl and Katie Bell: you five are very clever. Really very clever.

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Cassandra Anthemyst: I don't think that Ginny could speak Parseltongue when she read Tom's diary. Or maybe she could, but only when she was under the influence of Tom. Rowling never mentioned that she was also Parselmouth, so I think she wasn't really one. 

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Arif: I guess it is at least 6 hours later here in Hungary than in America. 

!_Cedric!Diggory!Fan!:_ you actually LIKE Mileta? You're the first reader to like her! I might mention her in the third story, but she won't really be around. She might come to visit for Christmas, but I'm not sure yet. Yeah… Ron is just as responsible as Hermione, LOL:)) You love George? Interesting… all people love Fred more. 

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Mage: no, I assure you that I haven't become D/G shipper. And I'll never be one.

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/: first of all: interesting name, LOL!:)) I don't get my Latin translations from a website, I look them up in a normal dictionary.

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Black Ice: I'm writing by hand during the summer – damn, I'll have to type it all into my PC in September :(( I haven't heard of this AlphaSmart before. No, Ginny didn't get the ability to speak Parseltongue from Harry. You'll find it out from this chapter.

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AmandaPanda: read the second half of my answer to Black Ice right above you.

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Derkaun Zarion: what does 'parsel' mean? Dunno, ask Rowling. I think she never told us. It might mean something in connection with snakes… maybe in Latin? I really don't know.

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Dana and her cousin Mia: I don't know anything about the Creevey brothers' mum, but it's sure that their dad had no idea about magic at all. Neither did the kids until Colin got his letter. About the floo network at Hogwarts: Hogwarts MUST be connected to the network, because Sirius' head appeared in the fireplace of Gryffindor tower in book four, remember! Maybe Rowling will explain the network more thoroughly later. No, I don't speak Spanish but I asked my best friend who does.

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WolfEyes: I'm quite sure that the Potters are the heirs of Gryffindor. It seems obvious. I have also seen the CoS trailer, but only on harrpotter.warnerbros.com. It looks good and Harry's voice is really so much deeper! It sounded downright 'manly' when he told Draco something like "You wish, Malfoy!" during the duelling club. And Slytherin's statue looks cool. It's fun that the Ford Anglia almost crashes with the Hogwarts Express – there's nothing like that in the book, but it's funny, nevertheless. Pity that there was no Ginny and Moaning Myrtle in the trailer. However, I think that Dobby is terrible. So ugly! I always imagined him like a cute little dwarf, and now what do I get? Something utterly horrible! :((( Anyway, the Great Hall looks wonderful at Christmas with the snowfall and everything… but I'm sure I'm going to hate Aragog and Gilderoy Lockhart. I used to be a great Lockhart fan, but I'm sure that he'll suck in the movie. *big sigh…* I love Gildy and Kenneth Brannagh will spoil him! Hugh Grant should have played his role! 

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Any last requests: the reason for the unwanted pregnancies is neither that Ginny can't help but get pregnant, nor that Harry can't help but impregnate. You'll get to know its reason from chapter… 36, I guess. 

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Crazycutee831: I'm glad you like my characterisation of Draco – though I seriously think that he isn't really evil, just spoiled. 

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Melinda Malfoy: you are also clever, just like five more people mentioned above :) Yes, Harry could only take one person back from death, that's why he didn't take his parents. I'm glad you like both my fics :)

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Moony Lover: I hope you'll grow to like Spain soon and make friends with lots of people – chin up, it will surely be okay! :)) About the celibacy vow of the priests: I also think that it's a load of crap! They definitely should be allowed to get married (especially because I have already met two young priests who were downright cute – or should I say HOT??? :)) A shame that they mustn't marry… *sigh* Your guess about Sirius is right :) You asked what had happened to Tatyana's lover. Well, read back to the Herm/Krum library scene in chapter 8, there's half a line about it, and of course there will be more about it, later. No, Angie won't loose her baby. I don't really care if the evil Anor is a Parseltongue now or not – it's not important at all. Why Herm didn't tell Harry? Because she hoped that she'd be able to hold Tatyana off Harry, or at least to persuade herself that she had read that particular paragraph in Beautiful Bill's Biography wrong. I think that Hayden was much better than Ewan, but… tastes are different. Sorry, I didn't watch the world cup – I don't like football at all. The only match I watched was the final between Germany and Brazil. No, Hungary wasn't playing, because we suck at football. We are very good at water polo, but not football :( Oh, so you think that Hungary is beautiful? I'm so proud! :)) It has an ancient touch? Oh, yeah, I guess so. The castle Festetics is really cool – baroque. I've been there three times, it's near the lake Balaton (the biggest lake in Central Europe).

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Nefertiri: feel free to put both my fics on your website! You asked how long it took me to write a story. Well, I wrote TGSoHH for about 3-3,5 months, I wrote TGSaWCS for 3 months. The reason why I was ready earlier with the longer fic (TGSaWCS), is that I wrote the first one in our weekend-house, where I don't have a computer and I had to type everything I had written by hand. Unfortunately I have to do the same with the third story, since I'm spending most of the summer in our weekend-house where I don't have PC.

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Magische Machen: wolltest du zufällig nicht Mädchen schreiben??? (just wondering). Nun, ich dachte, dass ich dir auf Deutsch antworte, weil du mir auch Deutsch geschrieben hast (und bitte, duze mich, sage nicht ‚Sie', es ist zu formal). Ich bin sehr froh, dass du meine Stories so gut findest. Danke für die Kompliment über meine Englisch-Kenntnisse! Nein, es ist nicht immer kalt in Ungarn, z.B. heutzutage ist es sehr heiss: 35-36 Celsius. Ich war überrascht, dass ein Amerikanische Mädchen mir auf Deutsch schreibt – die Amerikanische lernen meistens Spanisch, nicht wahr? Danke vielmals für Reviewing.

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Hermione Weasley: I promise you a very happy Ron/Herm getting back together :) Not much fluff, but it will be funny, you have my word!

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C-chan/Sailor Capricorn: who is 68 or 69 years old in book 4? So, you are actually a Gilderoy-hater? That's sad, he's my fave character because he always makes me laugh! Don't worry, he will only have another little scene in this story, so you won't have to put up with him. However, in the third part... he will be around. Sorry :) You asked whether I had seen Aladdin – well, of course, it is my favourite Disney movie!

Also thanks to: _The Face of Evil, Toby Haine, K.C. Hunter, aurora riddle,_ _PadmeSkywalker, phoenix6545, thebiggesthpfan (twice), Almah, Laurenna, green smurf, Qahira Galatea, VeRyWiLdWiTcH, Maddy, Notebook Girl, Kit Cloudkicker, princesswitch, Midnite Sunrise, heart2heart, Bucky, Tessa, ladyyuy (twice), Lana Potter, goldenstar555, LilGinny, Eclectus, pottermouth, NuttyBuddy, alli, star queen, Waldomier, J-Kid, starheart, Lady Godiva, Romina, Ari Potter, Kristen Michelle, Lavendar Brown, lulygirl23, Faunix_

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Chapter 27

Hide and seek

"You're kidding." she said.

"Am not."

"But… how? How could I be a Parselmouth?"

"Dunno… maybe being a Parselmouth is an STD."

"What?" she gasped. "Don't be ridiculous, Malfoy!"

"Then how do you explain it?"

"I don't know…" Ginny shook her head. 

"Wait a second." he cut in. "I've just realised something... Potter told me about resurrecting you with a torch."

"Yeah. The Green Flame Torch." she nodded.

"It was in Egypt, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. And?" she didn't have the vaguest idea what Draco was getting at.

"It belonged to Apophys, right?" he continued inquiring. 

"Yeah, but… _oh!"_ understanding suddenly dawned on her. "You mean I became a Parsemouth when I was resurrected by the Serpent God's torch?"

"It's very possible." he replied. "Much more possible than the STD stuff… Potter became a Parselmouth, though he never slept with Voldemort. Or did he?"

"Ha-ha. Very funny, Malfoy."

"Yeah. I'm a funny guy." he grinned at her. "That's why women like me so much."

"Name a woman who likes you – besides your mother." she replied with a grimace.

"Well…" he seemed to contemplate the answer, "…Pansy, for example."

"She broke up with you." Ginny reminded him.

"All right, then… Blaise Zabini. She used to be head over heels in love with me."

"Aha." Ginny made a wry face. "That's why she got married to Marcus Flint right after she graduated. She must have loved you very much."

"You are no fun to talk to, Weasley." he pretended to look hurt.

"Potter. I go by the name Potter." she replied. 

"Why do I always forget it?" he rolled his eyes. "Maybe because I think that you aren't the right one for Potty…"

"No?" she raised an eyebrow. "Who's the right one for him, then?"

"Granger." he replied. "He should have married her. Then your family wouldn't have got stained by having a mudblood in it. What a shame! When she'll start having children, it'll be the end of the pure Weasley bloodline."

"I never thought you cared so much for the purity of the Weasley-bloodline." she remarked. "And just to inform you, I don't care a bit that my nieces won't be pure-blooded."

"Your nieces?" he frowned.

"Yeah. The twins Hermione is going to have soon."

"Oh. What wonderful news." Draco snorted. "Ronniekins must be over the moon."

"He doesn't even know yet." Ginny shrugged.

"Great. So I should feel honoured now that I've been told before him." he wrinkled his nose. "Are you, by any chance, also carrying a couple of children? Just to be safe, you know… I don't want you fainting on me during the journey."

"I can assure you that I'm not pregnant." she replied. "Not that you'd care if I was… you didn't care when I almost lost my baby… after having helped you."

His eyes narrowed to slits. "So now you start blaming me. Why didn't you go telling everyone that your son's being a squib was my fault?"

"I never said it was."

"Don't tell me that it never occurred to you."

She looked directly into his cold, grey eyes. "Okay. I admit it. There were times when I thought that my son had been harmed when I almost lost him, and that was why he became a squib… But those times are over. I know the real reason now."

"I'm all ears." he said with an arrested look.

"Don't expect me to tell you, Malfoy." she turned away, gazing into the flames again. "It only concerns Harry and me."

"Have it your way." he shrugged. "I'm going to sleep. Haven't you changed your mind about sharing body-heat?"

"No." she shook her head, a small smile appearing on her face. "You know… you can't be feeling that bad if your primary concern is sex."

"Sex belongs to my three top concerns in life." he replied, yawning.

"And what are the other two?" she got curious.

"Number one: to make as many people miserable as I can. Number two: to find a woman who does not talk back."

"See, I'm not appropriate for you, then." she grinned.

"Now you tell me…" he sighed, bending his head on his arms, closing his eyes. "But we still could have sex."

"Oh, shut up and go to sleep!"

* * * * *

"WHAT?" Molly blanched. "She just apparated away? Without telling where she was going?"

"Yeah." Fred nodded. "She only told me to tell you to take care of her kids. We haven't seen her for a day now."

"But… didn't she say anything… where she wanted to go?" Arthur interjected.

"Well… she kept repeating that she needed to get to Durmstrang. That's all."

"Do you think she's in Durmstrang now?" Molly gasped.

"Be sensible, mum." Bill said. "Durmstrang is very well-hidden. No honest wizard in Great Britain knows where it is."

"That means that dishonest wizards do." George said. "Do we know one?"

"Malfoy." everyone said in unison.

* * * * *

Next morning Ginny awoke to see Draco sitting by the fire in his already dry clothes, slicing some kind of meat with a severing charm.

"What are you doing?" she yawned.

"Breakfast." he replied.

"What… what is this?" she asked, suspiciously eyeing their 'food'.

"Alopex lagopus."

"What?"

"Arctic fox."

"Eurgh! Do you expect me to eat that?"

"If you don't want to starve."

"I'll conjure myself some breakfast instead." she replied. "But I'm definitely not eating this thing. Really, did you go out to hunt for foxes?"

"No. It came into the cave to hunt for us. I had to kill it… and after I killed it, I thought we might as well eat it. I've always wanted to eat something… exotic."

"Exotic?" she raised an eyebrow. "Next time you'll start eating pickled pogrebins. Really, did you just shout _Avada Kedavra_ at the fox?" 

"No. I shouted _Incendio _at it." he shrugged.

She shuddered from the thought of a fox flambé. Draco really didn't seem to have any humanity if he could burn a creature alive… and for Ginny it meant that she wasn't likely to get exempted from her obligation of payment…

Roast fox… She pressed her hands over her mouth, feeling sick.

"Are you sure you're not pregnant?" Draco asked, seeing her go as white as a sheet.

"I'm _not _pregnant. And drop the topic, please."

"Your weak point, isn't it?" he smirked, slicing a piece of meat and stuffing it into his mouth.

"Non of your business." she hissed. "If you're ready with the fox, we should head up to the stones, don't you think?"

"'s all right." he nodded, munching. 

"By the way…" Ginny looked contemplative, "don't you find it a bit… strange, that such a huge snake could be living here without getting noticed?"

"Don't you ever take a book into your hand, Weasley? 'Scuse me, _Potter_." he corrected himself. 

"Of course I take books into my hand." she replied irritably.

"But only romances or Lockhart books, I presume."

"You're gravely mistaken. I like Muggle belles-lettres as well. I've just finished reading Crime and punishment. There was a psychopath in there… strangely, when I was reading the book, I imagined him with your looks... so that I could hate him enough."

"How charming." he smirked, chucking a bone out of the cave. "What I started to say was that you surely hadn't read any Viking legends."

"Should I have?"

"Not necessarily." he shrugged. "But that's why you have never heard of Midgard's Serpent."

"Actually I have." she replied. "But that's just a tale."

"It didn't seem to be just a tale to me." Draco pointed out.

"But… what does a Viking monster do in Russia?"

"Dunno. Ask it. You speak its language."

Soon they left the cave and headed for the four stones standing at the four corners of a small square. They looked very ancient and had runes engraved into them.

"So, what do we exactly do?" Ginny asked.

"Just step into the middle, and touch two of the stones, I guess." Draco replied. "Ladies first."

Ginny stepped into the square that was too small for more than one person. She touched two of the four stones and in the next instant she felt a jerk behind her navel.

A couple of seconds later she fell onto the ground with a thud.

She sat up, rubbing her knees and elbows that she had hit badly.

She looked around to see that she was in some kind of an entrance hall where the only conspicuous thing was a huge statue of a woman.

Ginny was just about to stand up when Draco fell right upon her.

"Ouch!" she yelled. "Watch where you fall!"

"It was the portkey's fault!" he protested. "Anyway, shhhh!" he placed his index finger to his mouth, drawing his wand out of the pocket of his robes. "We don't want to be heard."

She nodded, gripping her wand. "Where should we go?" she whispered. "Should we look for the janitor?"

"Brilliant, Weasley." he growled. "No. I say we go and have a look at… that adjoining hall."

They entered the great hall to find it totally empty. There were wooden plates and goblets on the tables, but they were also empty, as if waiting for the house-elves to fill them.

"This is creepy." Ginny whispered. "I feel like in a graveyard or something."

"Well, not a very cheery place, that's true." Draco nodded. "I suggest we go upstairs."

They climbed the stairs to the first floor and started down the corridor that echoed with their steps. They opened every single door - Draco opened the doors and Ginny covered him in case someone with a pickaxe jumped out of a room – but there were no men with axes at all. 

"No one. Absolutely no one. The school's deserted." Draco stated. "Where on Earth is everyone?"

"Good question." a voice from behind them cut in.

They turned around to see three ghosts hovering in mid-air. 

"Who are you?" Ginny asked.

"My name is Ivan Ilyich." the oldest-looking ghost introduced himself.

"I'm Anna Karenina." the female one said.

"Jevgheniy Anegin." the third one added, bowing slightly. "And who are you?"

"I'm Ginny Potter." Ginny said. "And he's Draco Malfoy."

"Potter?" Anna's eyes widened. "You're Harry's wife, then!"

"Yeah!" Ginny nodded eagerly. "Where's he? Where's everyone?"

"No idea." Anegin shrugged.

"But what happened here?" Draco cut in.

"We don't know." Ivan replied sullenly. "Everyone was out there to watch the second task of the tournament… and only a couple of people returned."

"Who? And where are they?" Ginny asked. "Is Harry among them?"

"No." Anna shook her pretty head. "I fear he isn't. But go and find the remaining people. They are in the staff room on the second floor. It's the fifth door from the staircase."

"Thanks." Ginny replied. "C'mon, Malfoy."

* * * * *

Draco and Ginny walked up to the fifth door on the second floor and opened it.

"_Stupefy_!" someone called from inside, but Draco ducked and avoided the curse.

"Dennis! It's us!" Ginny yelled as she caught a glimpse of a familiar figure.

"Ginny!" the boy shouted and ran up to them, gathering the young woman into a firm embrace. "It's so good to see you! To see anyone… living!" Ginny thought he was on the verge of nervous breakdown.

Meanwhile, Draco looked around to see two other people in the room: a black-haired girl and a blonde guy with a slightly purple face.

"Who are they?" Ginny asked from Dennis.

"They are Mileta and Guillaume. The other two champions." Dennis replied. 

Ginny flinched from the name 'Mileta'. "And where are the others?" she asked desperately.

Dennis heaved a deep sigh. "We don't know. We were accomplishing the second task in an underground ice cave, and by the time we got out, everyone had disappeared. The ghosts know nothing. Everyone and everything living disappeared. Even the house-elves from the kitchen… Vladi, the dragon as well."

"So… only the three of you remained here?" Draco interjected.

"No." the dark-haired girl walked up to them. "There's someone else… we don't know him. We've never seen him before… but he's here. Somewhere."

"Who?"

"A shade." Guillaume said with an extremely worried expression. "Or at least 'e looked like one… but 'e's rather alive zan dead. When we first saw 'im we thought 'e was anuzzer ghost, but zen we realised zat 'e looked solid. We don't know who it iz and 'ow 'e got 'ere."

"And where is this mysterious person?" 

"No idea." Dennis shook his head. "Hiding. When he saw us, he hurried away and hid. He doesn't want to be seen."

Ginny asked where Harry's room was and Mileta offered her to show the way. Ginny would rather have had Dennis to lead her upstairs, but she didn't want to be rude and turn down the other girl. 

"Well, this is it." Mileta opened a door on the fourth floor and they entered. "Harry used to live here."

Ginny looked around in the tidy room and immediately noticed some familiar objects: Harry's trunk, standing empty in the corner, his clothes hanging in the wardrobe whose doors stood half-ajar, his _Rocket 4000_ broomstick, and finally there was a picture in gilded frame on his bedside table: a picture of himself and Ginny. They were dancing and laughing in the picture that had been taken by Colin at their wedding.

Ginny's heart sank at the thought that she might never see her husband again.

"Are you all right?" the other girl asked.

"What?" Ginny shuddered, coming back from dream-land into reality. "Oh, yeah. Thanks for showing me the route."

"You're welcome." Mileta nodded and turned to leave, but Ginny called after her:

"Wait. I think we've got to talk."

"About what?" the Bulgarian girl raised a bushy eyebrow.

"Harry."

"Why do you want to talk about him with me? What do I have to do with him?"

"A lot." Ginny said. "Or at least I thought that you did… Mileta… But you didn't… right?" "What didn't I do?" Mileta snapped. "You expect me to reassure you that I only wanted to have something to do with him, but he always turned me down?" her voice was bitter and harsh, and her eyes threw fire-bolts at Ginny. "Tell you that I couldn't make him like me no matter how hard I tried? Should I…?"

"No." Ginny stepped to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "It's enough. Thank you that you told me."

Mileta looked at her and Ginny saw the pain in the girl's eyes. This poor young woman was desperately in love with her husband. Ginny's heart ached at the thought, but it was making flips of joy at the same time – now she could be absolutely sure that Harry was always faithful to her. "Thank you, Mileta." she repeated.

"Do not thank me. I would have taken him from you if I could. But there's someone else who succeeded."

Ginny froze. "What… what are you talking about?"

"My Potions teacher, Tatyana Fiodrovna." Mileta squinted at Ginny, her face showing malice. "Your Harry slept with her."

"No." Ginny gasped.

"Yes." Mileta said with a cruel smile. "Now I understand why Harry didn't want me: I'm not as pretty as you are… but the professor is. She is damn pretty. No wonder he couldn't resist her."

"You are lying!" Ginny shouted with clenched fists. "Tell me that you're lying!"

"I'm sorry, I can't. It's the truth. He cheated on you." Mileta replied, her face radiating sincerity – cruel sincerity. Ginny _knew_ instinctively that Mileta Krum wasn't lying. And that could only mean one thing: Harry had indeed slept with another woman.

Seeing the shocked expression on the red-haired woman's face, Mileta left the room, feeling triumphant.

There was a knock on the door but Ginny didn't care. Maybe she hadn't even heard it. For the last two or so hours she had been lying on the bed with open eyes, staring at the farthest wall of the room. Her ears excluded all noises and her mind excluded all thoughts, but her soul felt like dying of the suppressed emotions. 

She wanted to cry, wanted to howl on the top of her lungs, but all she could do was stare at the wall, not even noticing that it gradually grew dark.

She was just lying in the darkness – all that illuminated the room was the half-moon outside. The Moon… the first memory that came to her was about herself and Harry sitting on their bed at Black Manor, looking out into the moon-lit garden. 

"_Look at the moon-light. It's brighter than ever. No storm tonight."_ she had said back then. Although there was no storm now, in her soul she felt like in a storm: winds were attacking her from all directions, howling '_Harry cheated on you! Slept with another!_', and Ginny kept fighting them back, as if pushing a pillow over the mouth of a shrieking banshee… she kept fighting, but she was getting weaker and weaker… until the first tear coursed down her cheek.

It was relief to cry. She stuffed one of her tiny fists into her mouth, trying to muffle her sobs, although she knew that this part of the castle was totally deserted. But what if that terrible Mileta was still lurking around, just to hear her cry? She decided that she wouldn't give her the pleasure to see or hear her cry…

There was another knock on the door – Ginny didn't know how much time had passed since she had heard the first one in her half-dreamy state, but she supposed it had to be several minutes.

The knock was repeated.

"Go away…" Ginny said quietly.

"Does it mean that you don't want to dine with me?" Draco's voice came from outside. 

"I'm not hungry." she whispered, since she couldn't produce a louder voice. Still, he must have heard her, because he entered and walked up to her bed.

"Go away, please." she sat up and sniffed, wiping her tears away. She didn't want him to see her like that.

"Really not hungry?" he said in a cheery tone. Seeing that she didn't react, he sat down on the bed next to her. "What's the matter?" he took her hand, massaging it gently. "Hey, what have you done to yourself?" he asked, seeing bite-marks on her knuckles.

"Non of your business." she whispered, tearing her hand out of his grip.

"What happened? Tell me. Let me help you." he said, without realising that he was actually acting 'humane'.

"You can't help me… unless you can change the past and prevent me from falling in love with Harry."

"Why? I don't understand." Draco shook his head. 

She looked up to meet his eyes and her expression scared him. He saw grief, hate, anger and regret in it. "I should never have fallen in love with Harry… I should never have married him… I shouldn't have had anything to do with him at all."

"What is this sudden conversion?" he asked, bewildered. "You are talking as though you didn't love him anymore."

"I wish I could _not_ love him." she sighed. "I wish I could love someone worthier…" her expression suddenly changed. "Draco… do you still want me?"

"Ginny…" he blinked, not believing his ears.

"If you want me, then take me, Draco." she said, gripping his hands.

He let go of her, standing up. "No. Not yet. When we have found your husband."

"You said that it didn't matter to you when we did it." she replied sternly. "I don't care for finding Harry anymore… I just want to find Hermione who's still my friend. I want to save her and her babies… But I don't care for that bastard anymore!"

"_Bastard_?" he knitted his eyebrows. "What happened to you? What did that Mileta tell you that has driven you so crazy?"

"What did she tell me?" Ginny leapt to her feet. "She told me that Harry cheated on me!"

"Aha!" Draco exclaimed. "So that's why you are so willing to be with me now! Avenge! That's pathetic, Weasley!"

"Pathetic?" 

"Yes! I don't want a woman who gives herself to me out of revenge on her unfaithful husband! I want a woman to either do it out of love for me… or at least as a payment of a debt. But I don't need such a stupid sacrifice!"

"Sacrifice?" she hissed. "I thought you wanted me!"

"I do want you. Just not now. Not this way."

"Not now?" she spat. "All right, then! You had the chance, but you wasted it… don't expect anything from me after this! And get out of my room!"

"As you wish, my lady." Draco bowed and backed out.

"Bastard!" Ginny gripped a vase and threw it at the closing door. "All men are bastards! None of them deserves to be loved!" she dropped herself on the bed again, crying and trembling. "I hate them… hate them all… men…" she sobbed.

"Not all of them are bad." a voice spoke up.

Ginny sat up, looking around for the source of the voice. It was the same female ghost they had encountered a couple of hours earlier.

"Not all men are bad." she repeated. "Your husband definitely isn't."

"Hah! As though you knew him!" Ginny snapped.

"You're right, I don't know him… but I know that he's an honest man."

"Honest? Do honest men cheat on their wives?" 

"He did not cheat on you." Anna replied calmly. "He had been bewitched with a potion… hypnotised. He had no idea what he was doing."

"Really?" Ginny sniffed.

"Really. I've seen it. I saw that Fiodrovna woman give him that drink… I saw his expression change after he drank it… I heard him whisper '_Ginny_'…"

"What? My name?" 

"Yes." Anna nodded. "That potion made him believe that the professor was you. So do not blame him, girl. He was never unfaithful to you… not in his heart."

"But why… why did that woman bewitch my husband?" Ginny frowned.

"Of that I have no knowledge, sorry." Anna shook her head. "But Harry didn't do it out of his own free will… believe me."

Ginny stood up and walked to the window, gazing out onto the snow-covered planes. 

The snow-hills were bathed in moonlight, and something of its brightness found its way into her heart as well.

"What have I done?" she whispered, forgetting about the presence of the ghost. "What does Malfoy think of me now? Heavens! I'm a scarlet woman!"

"You're not. If someone's one, then I am." Anna commented.

"You?" Ginny turned around.

"Yeah. Cheated on my husband with a young count, ran away with my lover, leaving my husband and son behind…" Anna shrugged. "You were just angry and desperate. Happens to everyone."

"But I almost slept with my husband's enemy!" Ginny shouted. "I was practically begging him to take me!… Oh, my, I have to clear this up! Where's his room? I have to talk to him!"

"He moved into the room right under yours." the ghost replied.

"Thanks!" Ginny replied. "For everything, Anna!"

"You're welcome."

Ginny raced down the stairs and turned into the third-floor corridor when she had a strange feeling of being watched.

She looked around to see a dark shadow peering at her from behind a column.

"Who are you?" she shouted at it, drawing her wand out of her robes, but she was late – the man, or whatever it was, disappeared.

*It must have been that shade the champions were talking about.* Ginny thought, reaching Draco's door.

She knocked. "Malfoy, are you in there?"

"No!" he replied.

"Let me in, I've got to tell you something… important!"

"Stop trying to seduce me, Weasel, I'm in no mood for it now!" he yelled back.

"I don't want to seduce you, you fool! Just let me in!"

"All right." he opened the door. "What do you want?"

"I want to apologise… I was being stupid… and I almost made a huge mistake."

"So you've realised it, haven't you?" he crossed his arms, leaning nonchalantly to the door-post.

"Yes. I love Harry." she replied.

"Wow. That was quite a quick change-of-mind." Draco remarked sarcastically. "What made you realise that you still loved him?"

"I got to know that he never deliberately cheated on me. He had been bewitched." Ginny gabbled. "It wasn't his fault. He's innocent! The female ghost told me. She had seen everything."

"A voyeur ghost?" Draco grinned. "So the saint Harry Potter didn't cheat on you, after all. Well, I would have been surprised if he had really done it. He's not the type. Way too honest to sleep around… sometimes disgustingly honest." seeing Ginny raise an eyebrow, he quickly changed the topic: "So, you've come to tell me that you didn't mean it when you wanted to sleep with me, and I believe you. _You didn't mean it_. You thought you did, but you didn't… and I'm sure you'd have killed me the following morning, if you had woken up in my arms in a bit clearer state of mind." 

"I guess I would have." she smiled.

"All right. I think we might as well go and look for some dinner. I'm starving. Originally, when I visited you in your room, I wanted to invite you for dinner."

Mileta was surprised to see Ginny enter the staff room with Draco. She was puffy-eyed, but didn't look particularly sad, which made the Bulgarian girl rather confused. 

After she had marched out of Harry's room, leaving the dumbfounded Ginny behind, Mileta felt triumph and satisfaction. However, as the minutes passed on, she started to feel guilty. Why had she been so cruel with this woman? Had this woman hurt her? Well, of course this woman was the reason why Harry kept turning her down, but… this woman was Harry's wife. It wasn't Ginny's fault that Harry didn't like Mileta... Not much after their discussion, Mileta started to feel terribly miserable. She felt ashamed. She didn't feel triumph anymore, just pangs of remorse. Now, seeing that Ginny looked more or less all right, Ms. Krum heaved a sigh of relief. 

"Don't you know by any chance where the kitchen is?" Draco asked.

"We do, but there are no elves to cook for you." Dennis shrugged. "Why not conjure some food for yourself?"

"Too lazy." Draco shrugged. "By the way, Ginny has seen that funny guy who keeps disappearing."

"He gives me the creeps. Why is he hiding?" Ginny wondered.

"No idea. Maybe 'e does not like social life." Guillaume commented, looking into a huge mirror hanging on the staff room's wall. "Oh, my! I look therrible! My face iz still purple! It's your fault, Khrum! Now Uncle Gilderoy looks shurely better zan me!"

"Uncle?" Ginny and Draco gasped. "Is Gilderoy Lockhart your uncle?"

"Well, kind o'." Guillaume replied. "He's ze third-cousin to my grandmuzzer's nephew… or ze second-cousin to my muzzer's aunt?" he looked bewildered. "No idea. I always mix up zis family relations. Anyway, I just call 'im uncle."

Suddenly there was a loud clatter coming from the corridor.

All the five of them ran out to see an overturned bucket – Stanahov the caretaker might have left it there by mistake. Someone must have run into the bucket, toppling it over, spilling water all around it.

"It must have been done by the shade!" Dennis voiced his opinion.

"And this time we're gonna catch him." Draco grinned.

"How?" Ginny asked.

"Ah, so the excellent female logic does not reveal it to you?" he smirked, pointing at the floor: there were wet foot-marks on it.

"Oh!" Ginny's eyes widened. "I see."

"Come, but silently!" Draco beckoned to the other four and they started following the foot-marks.

They must have been moving much quicker than the 'shade', because they soon heard the wheezy breathing of someone who wasn't an experienced runner.

"_Locomotor mortis_!" Draco pointed his wand at the thin air, from where he heard the ragged breathing. They all heard a thud and saw half a human body appear on the floor.

"Aha! Invisibility cloak!" Malfoy exclaimed, ripping the cloak off the remaining part of the 'shade'.

The shade turned out to be an old man. He sat up, pressing his hand on a stitch in his side. No wonder that he couldn't run away fast enough – he looked older and much weaker than Albus Dumbledore. He had long, white beard and wore a dark grey cloak whose hood hid his wrinkly face.

"Who are you?" Draco demanded.

"I'm just an old squib." the man replied in a raspy voice.

"What does a squib do at a wizard school?" Ginny asked.

"I… I used to be a servant. I worked… in the stalls. I helped… Mr. Dumbledore… with his reindeers…"

"He's kind of a Durmstrang Filch, then." Draco told Ginny, then turned back to the old man again. "Do you know anything about what happened here a couple of days ago? How everyone disappeared…?"

"Yes… I do." the old man replied. "I was out there with the teachers and students to watch the second task… when suddenly a whirlwind appeared… and took everyone with itself…"

"But… why did it leave you here?" Draco asked.

"I was too old to be used, and I was just a squib... Maybe they thought I wouldn't be of use to them." the man shrugged. 

Ginny found the old man's story a bit unbelievable, still she trusted him. His words and gestures, his raspy, tired voice woke sympathy in her… then her gaze fell on the cloak Draco was still holding.

"That's Harry's!" she yelled. "How did you come by that?"

"I have always wanted to have one…" the old man shrugged. "Once I saw Mr. Potter disappear under it… and two days ago I kind of borrowed it."

"Stole it, you mean!" Ginny snapped.

"Put it the way you want, lady. I just thought he wouldn't need it anymore."

"What do you mean by that?" Ginny gulped.

The old man hung his head. "Well…" he muttered, not finishing his sentence.

"Out with it!" Ginny demanded. "I'm his wife, I have to know what happened to him!"

The old man's eyes strangely flashed under the hood of his cloak, and he reached out with a trembling, wrinkled hand to touch Ginny's arm. "I'm sorry, but… Harry Potter is dead."

****

A/N2: to Bucky (if you are reading this): a tepid 'oh'??? :)))

STD (for those who don't know) = sexually transmitted disease

I'm awaiting the flames you are going to send me now – go ahead, don't restrain yourselves! It's been a while I last got a flame, I'm kind of missing them ;-)


	28. Surprise visitors

**A/N****:** thanks for the reviews, people! It felt so good to be welcomed back! :))

_Myr Halcyon_: nice to see you again! You wrote: "in a fic I was writing for my friends I did everythig in my power to kill Harry and do you know what? The little bastard wouldn't die." Lol, I was laughing soooo hard! :))) And thanks for the flame "Incendio", what a good idea! :) Did I really write that no fanfic author had the right to kill off Harry??? My, aren't I self-contradictory? :-))))))))

_Moony Lover_: unfortunately most of my classmates in the highschool were superficial, either, but now at college I've got a couple of real friends, so I'm happy. It was LIGHTSABRE you meant by "light-...thing, can't remember the name". Lightsaber, don't forget that, it's important! :)) 

_PepsiAngel:_ am I really too talented for flames? Oh, thanks *big blush* So, did D and G remind you of Beauty and the Beast? Lol, I also love that movie. You know what? There will be another scene in this fic (around the end) that will remind you of that movie – I wonder whether you'll notice the resemblance :) 

_Magisch Machen_: du schreibst die entzückendste Mischung von English und German... sehr süss, wirklich :)

_X-Tow-Naga_: why would Malfoy levitate the fox if he wanted to roast it? No, Anor did not call any evil creatures to himself. Durmstrang in my fic is about 1100 years old. You might be right about the runes, but I don't know, people might have used runes 1100 years ago. Correct me if I'm wrong. Your assumption about Anor was not that far-fetched, but wasn't totally correct. I'll tell every detail of it later. The Durmstrang caretaker (called Stahanov) is magic, but the old guy is a squib who used to work for Aberforth in the stalls, and even Krum mentioned in chapter... 6, I guess that there was a squib working there. Why didn't Mileta recognise him? Maybe because he spent most of his time at the stalls. Don't worry I won't make Harry come back in the last chapter without real explanation. I always explain things... sooner or later. Right in this chapter there will be a lot of explanation. About the laptops... I asked PC experts about how much a second-hand laptop costed, and they said it was 120.000 Forints (about 500 dollars), so in Hungary you cannot get a laptop for 100 dollars. And even if I got one, I couldn't get online with it, because I don't have a phone connection in our summer house (and you know: no phone connection, no Internet). Don't worry about the length of your review, it didn't bother me :) I don't mind occasional long reviews, but I wasn't too happy about people competing for the longest review.

_Almah:_ don't worry, I'm going to get out of this one as well - I always get out of evil plots at the end :) No, Ginny cannot use the torch (even if she's Parselmouth), because the torch got closed into its chamber for another 1000 years and the chamber can't be opened now. You wrote: "Isn't that a bit strange of Malfoy, turning Ginny down? I think with him, he wouldn't care HOW he did it, as long as he got what he wanted." You're wrong. Draco himself will tell that you are wrong, in chapter... 35, I guess. Just be patient until then.

_Katie Bell_: answers to your questions - later. Sorry...

_Nefertiri_: yes, the chamber that contains the Green Flame Torch can't be opened for another 1000 years, so Ginny can't do anything.

_star queen_: summer's been okay so far. I've been writing my third fic for two months now (but I'm doing it very slow, since I have to write by hand :( I have started working on another fic as well (a H/G fic that has nothing to do with the 'greatest' trilogy). So I'm not bored. I haven't seen this Christian Coulson yet :( Do you have a pic of him? If yes, would you please send it to me to jagojade@axelero.hu ?

_Cassandra Anthemyst_: no, Ginny's ring can't tell whether Harry is dead or alive - since it's not glowing, because Harry had lost his powers. According to the ring he could either be 1. alive but without powers or 2. dead (dead persons don't have magic powers).

_Arif:_ another very long review...  I haven't read too much Shakespeare myself - I only read Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Midsummer night (or what is its English title?) and one more but I don't know its original title. Yoda related to house-elves? LOL! I have seen the CoS trailer, but I think Dobby looks terrible, yuck. A movie of my fics? Haha... what an idea :) All answers to your questions about magic-sucking are in this chapter. Good reasons too, just read it! WHAT???? Harry's penis is more magical? Ooooooh, you should have heard me laughing like a madman (madwoman:)! That was gross! My friend was visiting when I read that and she had no idea why I was rotfl :) Pigwarts school of Magecraft and Warlockery? LOL :) Yes, I know the Borg, I'll even mention them in this fic :) Yes, I like Star trek, especially the Voyager series. How did Lockhart end up in Great Whinging? Well, he was searching for memories all over England and happened to stumble into that village/town. Yes, the greatest shame is being turned into a squib. Don't worry, I won't write anything with the title 'Satanic verses'. I also think Rowling should actually write Hogwarts, a history, but only AFTER she's done with HP 7. What is SNL? Have fun in Bangladesh - and tell me about it when you come back!

_wood's secret lover_: where did I go on my holidays? Just to the family's weekend-house - I spend most of the summer there, and I don't have a PC and phone connection there, so I cannot update :( In a couple of days I'll be off to a little village that has a nice lake – I hope the weather will be fine so that I'll be able to swim a lot!

_Mage _and_ teacherchez_: read my answer to Almah.

_dipstick_: I KNOW that this is the worst cliffie ever, and I'm proud of it :))) *bad Agi*

_Ronniekins's Sweetheart_: there's a lot of romance in Star Wars episode two, but in my humble opinion the romance parts are not really good. George Lucas is very good at making up stories about interstellar battles, but he sucks in love stories. Either watch all the SW films, or don't watch any of them, but definitely DO NOT watch only episode two, because you won't understand everything.

_Melinda Malfoy_: sorry, but I'm NOT a D/G shipper, so you'll be disappointed...

_Usagi's Oven_: thanks a lot *blush* Are you Japanese?

_SariMoon:_ I'm happy you aren't that bored anymore. At the beginning of this fic I told that there would be a lot of building-up before the interesting parts, but finally we've arrived to that part and the story is in full swing :)

_Lemona Snicket_: true, the Green Flame Torch won't be accessible for 1000 years. You are the only one of my reviewers who mentioned Tatyana rambling about 'the one' and that it had to be a male, not a female... strange, the others didn't really care for it, though it was important. It seems you are a keen oberserver :) Btw, thanks for reviewing twice!

_Neverwhere: _no, I'm not JKR, I can assure you of that. She'd never write about Harry impregnating his best friend's little sister, then sleeping with another woman (even under the effect of a spell)... JK isn't as perverse as I am :))

_GinnyPotter387:_ thank you for reviewing so many chapters at once! I'm glad you like my Aberforth! :) You know, I also fail imagining a skinny Dudley, although I wrote him! :) You wrote for chapter 27: "Actually it took me a while to start writing a review for this chapter because I stared at the screen, with my mouth hanging open, not blinking, for quite awile." Lol, you poor one! :)) 

_Cedric!Diggory!Fan_: oh, you don't like cliffies? I LOVE them (but only if I write them :)) I also wanted Hugh Grant to play Gildie, and I'm mad at this Kenneth Brannagh! However, I heard that Grant was the one who turned down the role, so he's to be blamed! I still like him, of course and I'll watch his new movie as soon as it will be played in the Hungarian cinemas. 

Also thanks to_: jos8, Elfangor19, Kit Cloudkicker, Lady Python, C-chan/Sailro Capricorn, starheart, Lana Riddle, PrincezzShortie, Alexander Pheonix (twice), Hermione Weasley, Harrysgirl, sLyThErIn*4*eVeR, Vanilla, Jessica, Aimee, ladyyuy, Derkaun Zarion, zzxm, princesswitch, goldenstar555, McKenzie, The Face of Evil, caroline (even if you hate me), Afromonk, phoenix6545, megan, jeanine23dr, PadmeSkywalker, thebiggesthpfan, Crazycutee831, Lupin's Angel, Bucky, K.C. Hunter, Saphron, aurora riddle, Lavendar Brown, Notebook Girl, TaMara R, Tessa (of course I missed you!), Whit2005, Midnite Sunrise ___

Chapter 28 Surprise visitors 

"Bobby, answer the door!"

"Yes, master." the house-elf bowed and hurried out of the drawing room. Soon the master of the house heard footsteps of several people. He put down the journal he was reading in a chair facing the window, and tapped its armrest with his wand. The chair turned around and its occupant nearly fell out of it in surprise.

"Weasley!" he jumped up, outraged. "What are you doing in my house?"

"I can assure you, Malfoy, that we're not visiting you for fun." Arthur replied, leading his wife into the room. The twins and Ron followed them.

"What do you want, then?" Lucius growled.

"Don't you even offer us to have a seat?" Arthur raised an eyebrow.

"Sit down. But be quick and short, Weasley." Lucius replied, eyeing his guests suspiciously. "I see you have bought some new robes, Mrs. Weasley. They look really flashy on your family-members, but they reveal your lack of fashion-sense."

"Don't insult my mother, Mr. Malfoy!" Ron snapped, but Arthur waved him to shut up.

"All right, no insults." the master of the house replied with a wry face. "Tell me what you want, then leave!"

"Well, it's about Du…" Molly began when they heard the door creak.

A stunningly pretty blonde woman entered in flowing dark-blue dress that had several sparkling sequins on it, making the dress resemble the starry sky. She looked no older than thirty, though all the Weasleys knew that she had to be at least forty.

"What is it, Narcissa?" Lucius frowned.

"I heard the knocker and thought that I should come and greet the guests." she replied.

"These guests don't need greeting." her husband grunted.

She shot him a despising stare and turned to the Weasleys. "Welcome at Malfoy Manor. Would you like something to drink?"

"No way! They'd be serving us poison!" Fred replied.

"Fred!" Molly said indignantly. "I apologise for my son's behaviour, Mrs. Malfoy."

"No insult taken." the blonde woman smiled, seating herself on the sofa.

"You see, Weasley," Lucius sneered, "your family might have got some money, but your manners are still like that of a peasant!"

"We aren't here to discuss our manners… or _yours_." Arthur replied calmly, then turned to Narcissa. "Thank you, Mrs. Malfoy, but we mustn't drink. We're driving."

"All five of you?" Narcissa raised an eyebrow, looking really interested. "Does everyone in your family have a car now, Mr. Weasley?"

"Well, not exactly. My wife, for example will never be persuaded to learn to drive."

"Exactly." Molly nodded. "Dangerous, driving. My husband loves these Muggle cars, but I for one do not."

"At least someone has some brains in the family." Lucius commented.

The Weasley parents pretended not to have heard him. "Do you drive yourself, Mrs. Malfoy?" Arthur asked.

"Oh, no." she laughed. Lucius gave his wife a furious glance, indicating how much he disliked the idea of her staying here, but he didn't want to send her away – what would the Weasleys think of his manners, then?

"I prefer apparating." Narcissa replied. "That's the easiest way of travelling, and anyway, I'm not travelling too often… sometimes I visit my son at Devilsmoor  - my family's old mansion – but that's all, I guess."

"I see." Molly nodded politely. "How long has your son been living separately from you, Mrs. Malfoy?"

"Oh, ever since he graduated from Hogwarts." she sighed. "I miss him so much."

"I wonder why." George whispered to Ron, who couldn't help giggling. Narcissa, however, didn't seem to hear the remark, she was way too absorbed in talking about her one and only son.

"You know," she said, "he wanted to have a life of his own and I decided to give him my father's house where he could be alone… but he has no idea how empty this manor is without him."

"Narcissa, please, don't go all emotional on our guests." Lucius told her. "Don't bore them with your grieving."

"Oh, I'm not bored at all." Molly replied with a smile – the smile was 'addressed' to the other  woman, not to Lucius. "I myself know what it is like to see your children grow up and leave the house. My eldest son, Bill hardly ever comes home, I see Charlie even less than Bill. Percy also moved to his wife's house and the twins practically live in their shop at Diagon Alley. My youngest son, Ron, lives in Hogsmeade, and my only daughter…" her voice wavered.

"She lives with Harry Potter in Sirius Black's manor, doesn't she?" Mrs. Malfoy said, clearly aware of the relations and social lives of all important witches and wizards of Great Britain.

"Yes, she does." Arthur nodded with a sad smile. "But now she disappeared."

"Disappeared?" Narcissa gasped. "Kidnapped again? That poor little thing!"

"No, not kidnapped. She went to Durmstrang, I suppose."

"To Durmstrang?" Lucius looked surprised. "Why? And how does she know where it is?"

"From your son." George replied.

"From Draco?" Narcissa blinked.

"Yes." Arthur said. "She got to know that something terrible happened to her husband and she wanted to go to Durmstrang, so she visited your son, who, it seems told it to her… and even escorted my daughter there."

"What? Draco at Durmstrang?" the blonde woman clutched at her chest. "I never wanted him to go there! Never ever!"

"How do you know that my son is at Durmstrang?" Lucius asked with knitted eyebrows.

"Well, we thought that if there was someone who knew where that castle was, then it must be a Malfoy. So we went to Devilsmoor…"

"But Devilsmoor is a well-hidden place!" Narcissa said. "How did you know where to find it?"

"From Pansy Parkinson." Ron replied.

"I always told my son to forget that girl!" Mrs. Malfoy shook her beautiful head. "And what happened when you got there?"

"Well, we found a house-elf called… Kinky, I guess, who told us that her master had had a visitor in the person of a red-haired woman. Kinky wasn't at home when my daughter arrived, but she saw Ginny and Draco when she finally got back to Draco's house." Arthur replied. "And then they both disappeared. Kinky didn't know more. So we decided to come here and ask you where Durmstrang was."

"And you expect me to tell you?" Lucius let out a shrill laugh. "You're really stupid, then, Weasley."

"Take that back!" Fred burst out, but Ron kicked him in the ankle. Before Fred could protest, Molly started to speak:

"I turn to you as mother to the mother." she told Narcissa quietly. "Our children are… might be… in danger there. We need to know where they are so that we can help them."

"Narcissa…" Lucius gave his wife an admonishing glare.

"We've got to help Draco, Lucius." she reasoned. "He's our only son. The only Malfoy-heir."

"Oh, yes, because you weren't willing to give me another." her husband grunted. "Look at the Weasleys… at least they don't need to fear that their family-line will break if one of their children dies."

At Lucius' remark of the death of one Weasley child, Molly gasped, placing her hands on her heart. Tears welled up in her eyes. "That's right, Mr. Malfoy." she said. "We have lots of children. But you have only one. Do you want to lose that one or are you willing to help us so that we can help him?"

"Hah!" Lucius leapt to his feet. "I can imagine how much a Weasley would want to help a Malfoy! Don't be ridiculous!" he stepped to the cocktail cabinet, taking out bottles, one after the other. His hands were shaking with rage as he poured himself a brandy.

_'Lucius, tell them.'_

Suddenly the Weasleys and Narcissa jumped, hearing the clatter of breaking glass. Malfoy had dropped the glass he had been holding. His face revealed utter horror and he seemed not to be there in spirit.

"Lucius!" Narcissa ran up to him. "Are you all right? What happened?"

Her husband stared at the floor and the broken glass, his eyes bulging, his breath ragged. "Lucius!" she patted his back. "What happened to you?"

He suddenly shook his head, his vision clearing. "Such a thing has never happened to me… I… dropped the glass." he looked around nervously, then straightened himself. "But I'm fine." he turned to the Weasleys, who looked rather intrigued by the events. "All right. I'm telling you. But only for my son's sake. Only for Draco."

* * * * *

Hermione was dreaming again… letters were dancing in her dream… letters that arranged themselves into a paragraph of Beautiful Bill's Biography, third volume…

_EXSUGO VIUM MAGICAE_

_highly advanced dark magic_

This charm was invented by a witch called Aditi in East-India in the ninth century. At that time there were only a few dozen of magic people in whole India, and these people were fighting with each other for power. Some of them managed to kill each other (at that time they used another curse for killing, not Avada Kedavra), others trapped each other, again others conspired against each other. 

Aditi, one of the most talented witches, though, made up a new method of gaining more power: she sucked the magic powers out of her fellow wizards by sleeping with them for three times in a row, uttering the incantation 'exsugo vium magicae' (to suck the magic power out of somebody) when the wizards reached their climaxes. This charm (or rather curse?) is one of the few charms that can be performed without the use of a wand – you only need two things for it: the incantation and a magic person to sleep with.

The inventor of Exsugo vium magicae was a very beautiful and cunning witch, so it wasn't a problem for her to make the chosen wizards fall in love with her. She deprived several wizards of their powers this way. So that the wizards wouldn't understand her incantation and would be willing to sleep with her again and again, she used Latin words - she had spent a couple of years in Europe where she had learnt that language. 

_However cunning Aditi was, she finally got caught. The irony of life was that she didn't get caught when leeching the powers out of a wizard – no, she got caught when killing her husband, a Muggle maharajah. It were the wizards she had deprived of their magic powers,  who caught her. Before handing her over to the maharajah's guards, they tortured her, this way hoping to make her give them their powers back. However, Aditi was unable to return it to them. _

_Aditi, though she was very powerful – having the powers of several magic people in her – still couldn't prevent her death. She was forced to undergo the suttee. (The Flame Freezing Charm had not been invented at that time and she could not use any other charm to defend herself because she had been deprived of her wand. Apparition was also unknown at those times, thus she couldn't even apparate away from the funeral pyre of her husband.) _

_After her destruction, the remaining wizards and witches of India founded the Indian Magical Treaty Organisation with the main principle of creating peace and understanding within India's magic community. They agreed to forbid and forget that particular curse Aditi had used. They also agreed not to write down anything about it, so that the magic descendants would never find out about this cruel curse. _

_However, somehow the 'legend' of the curse lived on within the Indian wizarding community. Allegedly the Indian wizards kept silent about it - they kept it a secret for a millennium, until one of them got a bit chatty after seven glasses of arrak (rice brandy) and told me about it. _

_I have been contemplating whether to mention this curse in my dissertation on India, but I decided that it was my task to arm my readers against such evil curses (you may never know whom the secret-keepers of the Exsugo vium magicae curse spilled the beans, after all). _

_My main principle is: better safe than sorry! I do not suggest you to try this curse on anyone if you do not want to get into Azkaban - just keep your eyes open, and in case you notice that you cannot accomplish certain charms you could do before, do not exclude the possibility that someone has been exercising Exsugo vium magicae on you! Should you notice any sign that refers to this, keep in mind: it has to happen three times before you lose all your magic powers! Make sure that it doesn't happen for the third time, and everything will be all right!_

Hermione, during that terrible night she realised what was happening to Harry, read this paragraph through for a dozen times, hoping that she had read it wrong, hoping that it wasn't true at all. The words of Beautiful Bill had burnt themselves into her memory. 

*No wonder that the third volume of Beautiful Bill's Biography was kept in the Restricted Section of Hogwarts.* Hermione thought, slowly opening her eyes.

She woke in a dimly lit room. She felt her head extremely heavy, as though it had been hit by a rock. She sat up slowly, taking in the surroundings: she was lying on some kind of a cot that was only covered with a dirty sack. She reached into her robe-pocket for her wand, but it wasn't there. *Ooooh, of course… why would your kidnappers let you keep your wand?* she thought sourly, looking around and saw Viktor Krum lying on the cot next to hers, and there were two other forms at the other end of the room, sitting on a bench, huddling. Aberforth and McGonagall. 

They didn't seem to notice her sit up – Minerva's head was bent on the old man's shoulder – maybe she was asleep.

Hermione glanced at Krum, who either was sleeping, or was still unconscious. Her mind raced, trying to find out what happened, but the last thing she could remember was a whirlwind, then everything went blank.

What happened before that? There was the second task, of course, the malfunctioning screen and Harry…

"Oh, heavens!" she breathed. "Harry's lost his powers! That devil of a woman succeeded!" she punched the rocky wall in anger and helplessness. *But why? Why on Earth did she want to take his powers?* Hermione propped her chin on her knees, trying to think, but she simply couldn't. She felt too weak, hungry and desperate. A single tear coursed down her cheek as she placed her hands on her belly. "My sweet ones… mummy's here for you… and come what may, I won't let anyone take you from me."

Suddenly she felt a hand on her arm and looked up to see Viktor awake, gazing ever so gently at her. 

"Herm-own-ninny…" he said, and she flung herself into his embrace.

"Hold me tight… just hold me tight…" she whispered into his chest as he kept caressing her back.

"What… what happened, Herm-own-ninny?" he asked. "Do you know?"

"I'm not sure, Viktor… but I think it has something to do with that Fiodrovna woman."

"Tatyana?" he blinked in surprise. "What did she do?"

"She… she was playing a very cruel game with Harry… and I don't know… don't know where he is now… maybe he's… _dead._"

Krum shook his head. "No. Harry must be alive. He is not the type who gives up easily."

"That's right." Aberforth joined in. "Where on Earth are we, kids? A bit creepy this room, isn't it? I've tried to apparate out, but it's impossible."

McGonagall stirred and opened her eyes, looking slowly around. When she saw that she had been held by Dumbledore, she immediately jumped and sat as far from him as possible.

"Where are we?" she asked, adjusting her rectangular glasses.

"No idea, Minerva." Hermione sighed. "If only I knew where Harry is!" 

"He isn't here?" McGonagall looked around nervously. "Oh… only the four of us? But where are the others? The other teachers and students?"

"Don't worry, they are all here… expect for poor Harry Potter." a voice said.

The four of them were surprised to see a human form materialise in front of them. The visitor was wearing purple robes, and her long, black hair came cascading down onto her shoulders. She was fingering her wand nonchalantly.

"You bitch!" Hermione jumped up, lunging at the woman, who simply swished with her wand, disappeared a milli-second before the collision and appeared two metres to the left again.

"Searching for me, Weasley?" she laughed.

"Not only searching!" Hermione instinctively stuck her hand into her robes for her wand, having forgot that it had been taken away. Krum did the same at the same time, but his wand was also missing.

"Lost something?" Tatyana smirked at them maliciously, holding out her wand to keep the four wandless people in check.

"What do you want?" Hermione burst out. "And where's Harry? What did you do to him?"

"I thought you _knew_ what I did to him." Tatyana shrugged. "I accomplished the charm E_xsugo vium magicae_ on him."

"I know that much." Hermione growled. "And I wish I could have prevented it! But I couldn't, because…"

"…because you fainted, dear." Fiodrovna gave her a malicious grin. "And why did you faint?"

"Because of the babies…" Hermione began, then suddenly went as white as a sheet. "…or was it you?"

"Bingo." Tatyana nodded. "I cast _Imperio _on a house-elf, gave her a mild poison and made her hand _slip _over your drink…"

Hermione gasped.

"Oh, don't worry, it didn't harm your kids. It only made you faint… in the proper time, so I could accomplish the charm."

"What charm?" Minerva asked, knitting her eyebrows.

"_Exsugo vium magicae_." Hermione sighed. "This tramp here…" she gave Tatyana a murderous stare, "leeched Harry's magic power out of him by… forcing him to sleep with her."

McGonagall, Aberforth and Krum gasped. Krum was the first to recover his voice: "But… why did you do that?"  

"How could you be so cruel to him?" Aberforth gaped. "Why?"

"Why? Because I'm in love." the Potions professor replied calmly.

"Hah! Don't expect me to believe that you love Harry!" Hermione retorted.

"Harry?" Tatyana cackled. "That's gross. Really. No, Weasley, I have never felt anything for your Harry. Well… his abilities in bed are really remarkable, but that's all. He was good for the purpose I used him for, I don't need him anymore."

"But… why did you do it?" Hermione practically beseeched her to reveal it.

"I told you: I did it out of love. Out of love for the greatest Viking wizard ever." 

"Viking?" McGonagall breathed. "But the Vikings ceased to exist hundreds of years ago!"

"That's right." Tatyana nodded. "My love is exactly 1125 years old. I am 1121."

"So it's true, then." Hermione said. "You have been reincarnating for centuries to… to do _what,_ exactly?"

"To revive my lover from the eternal sleep he had been sent into by his own father." she replied.

"Aaron and Anor!" Hermione breathed. "The legend I read about!" 

"No legend. _History_." Fiodrovna replied. Krum gazed at her, his mouth open in surprise. He remembered having told Hermione not to read such foolish stuff because they all were fairy tales, nothing else. "It happened exactly the way it was written in the books."

"Anor is awake again, then?"

"Yes, he is. And we are going to rule over the wizarding world together!" she started to laugh again, madly.

"But why did you have to take Harry's powers away?" Hermione growled.

"Because I needed his powers to be able to wake my lover."

"But… _why_ Harry?" Hermione inquired. "Why couldn't you choose someone else? Anyone? Anyone during those centuries you were being reborn again and again?"

"Because I never found the right one." Tatyana shrugged. "The only way I could wake up Anor, was by combining my own powers with that of a wizard who had already been in the netherworld and came back from there alive. There wasn't anyone like that during the last eleven centuries. Not a single person... But when the Hogwarts people came to Durmstrang, I immediately knew that one of them had to be my saviour."

"How did you know?" Aberforth interjected.

"My _Sphaera Inferi_ started to glow." the Potions professor said. "It is an orb that indicates it if someone turns up with the required qualities. At first I didn't know that it was Harry. All I knew was that the person came from Hogwarts. It wasn't difficult to find out who it was, though." she gave Hermione a grim smile, "I managed to get near the Creevey boy. I gained his sympathy and trust by helping him with the first task… he told me about Potter's journey to the netherworld. So I knew it. He also told me that Potter couldn't be affected by _Imperio_… so I had to do something else to make him sleep with me for three times… I needed to get to know how I could make him have sex with me." she started pacing the cell, as if deep in her thoughts. "I used the Mileta girl."

"My sister?" Viktor gasped.

"Yeah." Tatyana nodded. "I knew that she was head over heals in love with Potter. Knowing her I was sure that she'd try anything to seduce him… all I needed to do was to watch her. I kept an eye on every move she made. I followed her everywhere she went… One night, right before Potter returned to England for Christmas, Mileta visited him in his room." seeing the appalled expression on Krum's face, her lips tucked into a smirk. "Don't worry, headmaster, Harry was too much of a gentleman to do anything to your sister. He turned her down. Poor little Mileta ran out of his room crying. I pretended to be on a night-time stroll and invited her into my room for a drink. She was grateful to me for consoling her… I pretended to be a perfect friend… a friend who listened to her problems. She, however, refused to reveal why she had been crying. So I gave her the promised drink… into which I 'accidentally' spilled a bit of Veritaserum."

Hermione paled, Viktor clenched his fists and Tatyana carried on with her tale.

"Mileta drank it, believing it to be pure butter-beer. And then I only needed to ask her what had transpired between her and Potter and she told me everything. She told me that Potter had almost given into her… because for a second he believed her to be his wife. I cast an Obliviator curse on Mileta afterwards and she didn't remember our discussion… didn't remember having revealed me the key to Harry: his wife."

"Ginny?" Minerva gasped.

"Yes, Ginny." Tatyana nodded. "All I needed to do was to make Harry believe that I was Ginny – and do it in a way that he wouldn't be surprised to see her… he had to think I was his wife… under some kind of hypnosis. For this purpose I used a potion containing a very strong aphrodisiac that practically forced him to have sex… how very convenient for a Potions teacher isn't it?" she let out a short, mirthless laugh. "It was still difficult to get him to drink my potion… so I created opportunities for it… for example the Valentine Day's hype or the pogrebins…" seeing the surprise on Hermione's face, she carried on. "Yes, the pogrebins… _I_ let them into the castle in March, _I _set them on Harry. But you thwarted me, dear. A big mistake, Weasley, a big mistake. I couldn't get him then, but a couple of days later I managed to. After you fainted thanks to my potion, I saw to it that he'd come to me."

"How?" Hermione knitted her eyebrows. "He didn't go to you of his own free will, did he?"

"Oh, no, my dear, of course not." Tatyana laughed. "Our Harry got lost… because I made him get lost. Have you heard of the _porta vecturarius_ charm before?"

Everyone looked at her with confused expressions.

"No? Well, it allows you to place an invisible gate to somewhere. If someone goes through that gate, he'll get to a certain place the magic gate is opened to. It is a bit like a portkey, just invisible and it transports you to somewhere – unbeknown to you. Dark magic, of course. I placed such a gate on a corner Harry used to turn left on his way up to his room. I didn't need to worry that someone else would go through the gate because it was already past bedtime and all students were in their bedrooms – so were the teachers. I knew that Potter went down to the kitchens and I placed the gate there so that he'd pass through it by all means after his little food-nicking journey. And so he did. Coming up from the kitchen, he turned left at the usual place and found himself in my corridor. The poor one thought he was lost again… I invited him for a drink, and he was so endearingly innocent and unsuspecting that he drank it…"

Aberforth's eyes were sending lightning bolts at the Potions teacher. "Yeah, that's his problem: his innocence! I told him back in November that you were up to no good!"

Tatyana/Natasha didn't care for him, just continued her tale: "…he drank it, so I slept with him for the third time as well… and he never remembered having slept with me… I leeched his powers out of him… neatly, gradually…" she saw Hermione's eyes narrow with hate and disgust, but she carried on. "Of course he felt something of it right after our first night together… he felt weaker. After the second one he started to fail in certain charms. And after the third one he didn't have any powers left. Cruel, is it not?"

"You're sick." Hermione spat. "Only mentally ill people would do such a thing!"

"Have it your way, Weasley." Tatyana grinned. "Call me sick. Call me abnormal. I don't care. All I care for is that I have Anor back now. That compensates me for the trials of eleven centuries, for the futile waiting and craving… it makes up for everything!" 

Hermione looked into her eyes and saw the madness in them, but she also saw intelligence and cunning. Suddenly she realised who this woman reminded her of: the statue in the  Durmstrang entrance hall.

"You are the one who founded the school, aren't you?" she asked.

"Exactly." Tatyana nodded. "Strange that you recognised me… since this is another body."

"Your eyes are the same as that of the statue." Hermione replied. "A wonder why no one noticed it before."

The Potions professor shrugged. "My Anor managed to recognise me at once, even in this body."

Aberforth gave Tatyana a despising look. "You must have been pretty stuck-up to raise such a monument to yourself, you know."

"Stuck-up? Me? Well, maybe… after all, I was a princess." she replied. "In my first life I was called Aouda. Yes, that's an Indian name. I came from India. My father was a maharajah there. A Muggle maharajah." she spat the word 'Muggle' with just as much hate as a Malfoy would. "My mother, though, was a witch. She was the one who invented the _E__xsugo vium magicae_ charm. She used it to gain more power and be able to overtake the country and become a maharani. She killed my father but couldn't accomplish her plan."

"Why?" Aberforth crossed his arms. "Did she die of too much sex?"

Tatyana didn't react upon the sarcasm in the old wizard's voice. "No." she replied. "My mother got caught. People got to know that she was a witch and killed her.  I was a ten-year-old child then. My mother had taught me a lot about magic in my childhood…" for a minute Tatyana looked immersed in her thoughts, as if taking a journey back in time. "My mother even taught me _Exsugo vium magicae_ and told me what the powers taken from someone can be used for. One of its several uses was to awaken people from curse-sleeps."

"Curse sleeps?" Krum knitted his bushy eyebrows.

"Yes, my Anor was in such a curse-sleep, very close to death, thus he could only be awakened by the powers of someone who had been to the world of the dead. My dear mother taught me this and so many other things… but she was killed." suddenly Tatyana's eyes seemed to water. She blinked back her tears. "She was killed, but I was alive. The people of India feared to kill me. They believed that they'd be cursed if they killed a child. But they also feared to keep me there, so they got rid of me. They sold me to slavers who took me to Russia where a Viking couple bought me. Swedish Vikings had a great part in founding the first Russian state, did you know? Well, never mind. I got here and grew up here, and with the help of my magic abilities, I got my slavers to set me free. I chose myself a new name: Natasha Yanska…" 

"And that was the name you were using when you founded the school, right?" Minerva interjected.

"Yes, of course. But that happened years and years after I got to know my love. I was twenty when I met Anor and fell in love with him. He told me about his intentions of murdering his family, who – back then – were the most powerful wizards in the country. He wanted to rule over the wizarding world and I agreed to help him. However, he got thwarted… sent into the eternal sleep. I built a castle over the chamber he was resting in and started the wizard school. I always reincarnated in the bodies of witches who were destined to teach at the school, so that I could always stay near my love. And now we are going to stay together till the end of times!"

Tatyana's – Natasha's – vicious laughter filled the room, reverberating off the walls.

"Before you laugh your head off," Hermione said, "tell us what happened to Harry! What did you do to him after he collapsed into the snow? Where is he?"

"Harry?" Tatyana waved nonchalantly. "Forget him."

"Why? Because he's no wizard anymore?" McGonagall cut in. "He might have lost his powers, but he's still able to come and save us… and have revenge on you!"

"Revenge?" the Potions teacher cackled. "Come on! The Boy Who Lived, who had done away with Voldemort cannot revenge anyone anymore!"

"Why?" Aberforth scowled at her.

"Because Harry Potter, the great wizard, is dead." Tatyana said quietly, almost whispering. Then she swished with her wand and vanished with a pop.

Hermione fell into Viktor's arms, unconscious.

**A/N2**: a little bit of reminder: you surely don't remember Hermione reading about the 'legend' of Aaron and Anor, but it happened in chapter 8 – Krum even told her not to believe in such foolish stuff. (sorry, I'm doing this all the time: throwing in little pieces of information that don't seem to be important, but they turn out to be important later. Bear with me, please...)

Latin explanations: _porta vecturarius_ = transporting gate, _sphaera inferi_ = orb of the netherworld

Suttee (for those who don't know) was a cruel ritual exercised in India in the old times. If a man died, then his widow was burnt along with him on his funeral pyre (the woman was still alive!) If you have seen/read Round the world in eighty days, then you must know about this. (If you haven't read that book yet, go on and read it! It's cool! I usually don't like Verne's books, but this one is really great.)


	29. Frozen hearts, melting bodies

A/N: hello, everyone! Sorry for being late with the update! I'm proud to announce that my first HP fic – TGSoHH – has reached the 2000th review (and exceeded it)! I'm so happy about it! And now, on to your reviews: 

_Bucky_: yes, the AgiVega who's posting 'paintings' to gryffindortower.net is me. But in fact those are not real paintings, they are mostly made by pencil – even the colouring. No, the theme for the next story isn't Dan being a squib, but Dan will still be important in it. Much more important than in this fic.

_grambones_ and _SkyeLeah_: I don't ship D/G.

_C-chan/Sailor Capricorn_: your vampire butterflies haven't attacked me yet! Btw, what does 'kami-sama' mean? I'm curious!

_star queen_: what do you mean by 'the missing Weasley theory'? I haven't heard about anything like that before. Fill me in, please!

_X_Tow_Naga_: no, non-magical people can't do exsugo vium magicae, because it's wandless magic. (you know, when Harry set the boa constrictor on Dudley or turned his teacher's wig blue, it was also wandless magic. A muggle couldn't have done it.) So, even if Harry and Ginny had sex and Harry uttered 'Exsugo vium magicae', he wouldn't be able to get powers from Ginny, because he cannot perform wandless magic anymore, given that he is totally deprived of his powers. I think that Natasha/Tatyana didn't have a wand to levitate her mother with, and she couldn't perform this charm without a wand. Or maybe she wasn't even allowed to witness her mother's execution at all.

_Moony Lover_: no, Natasha/Tatyana has nothing to do with Dan being a squib. Mere coincidence. You'll see the good old Dursleys in chapter 38 again. (I'm also missing them:)) How old is your sister? Thanks for worrying me because of the floods. Yes, Hungary also has floods, but I live in the capital that is well-protected. So I'm fine, don't worry :)

_Gabernell:_ 39 chapters together. I'm going to get back to Angie/Fred/George. The children will have a major part in the next story – in fact it will be mostly about them.

_Orange Sulphur_: yes, I'm writing a sequel – fourteen chapters written, and they're very long chapters! While in my first fic the usual chapter-length was 4-6 pages, in this one it's 7-8 pages, in the third one it's 10-11 pages!

_K.C. Hunter_: I have also read some of the NJO books, but I don't like the whole concept of them. First Chewie is killed off, then Anakin Solo (the only Solo kid I liked!), so I simply stopped reading the series. My only happiness in it was the birth of Ben Skywalker. Luke deserved to become a father long ago...

_Melinda Malfoy_: what happened to Lucius? Hm... that will be revealed in... er, the third story, sorry... *evil grin*, you'll have to read that, too, if you want to find out!

_Aimee_: yes, mum is till betaing for me, and I gave her your thanks :)

_Wood'd secret lover_: it IS a trilogy. I think that answers your question :)

_Tessa:_ no, I don't have that much knowledge of these cultures – in fact an Indian friend of mine gave me quite a lecture on the mistakes I made on India in the last chapter (but of course I was thankful to him!:)

_Nefertiri:_ oh, you have autographs from Daniel, Emma, Rupert and Richard Harris? I'm envious!!! You – as many others on ffnet – wrote the name of my country wrong. It's not Hungry, but Hungary – there's an 'a' in there. I'm always so miffed when it's written wrong! I hope you understand :)) Yes, we do have chocolate frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans here in Hungary – I don't really like the horse-radish flavoured ones, but the carrot and tomato flavoured beans are really good! My favourites are the sweet popcorn flavoured ones. So, you have just graduated? That means that you're 17? Well, congrats on your graduation! 

_LilGinny_: yes, I have read Cassandra Claire's fics, and they're cool.Thanks for writing twice.

_jeanine23Dr_: true, we never got to know Narcissa's personality, but I thought that there had to be at least one decent member in the Malfoy family – and Narcissa wasn't even born a Malfoy, so she could be nice. Hey, Ginny has ALREADY found out about Harry having sex with Tatyana – it was in chapter 27! I wrote about her reactions as well: she almost slept with Draco to take revenge on Harry, but then Anna Karenina's ghost told her that Harry had been 'forced' to sleep with Tatyana and he was innocent, so Ginny forgave him. You asked what cliffie meant. It is the short form of 'cliffhanger'. Cliffhanger is a bad situation at the end of a chapter or TV series episode – a situation in which you don't know what will happen, but you are very excited about it. I guess that the term 'cliffhanger' comes from Sylvester Stallone's movie, Cliffhanger, in which he climbs a mountain and a woman slips, he catches her, holds her by the hand (she is dangling over a precipie), and then she falls down…

_Waldomier:_ we don't even have cable in our weekend house, just antennas with which we can get three TV channels. That's all. So no prospect for Internet.

_Katie Bell_: have I REALLY ignored you in my A/Ns? Sorry! I'm trying to answer as many people as possible, but I just cannot answer all the 60-70 reviewers after each update, because then my A/N would be longer than the actual chapter. Thanks for writing, though :))

_MauiGoddess3:_ I must tell you that your review made my blush :)) I have received many sweet reviews, but yours belonged to the cutest ones. May I ask something: is Maui an island?

_Cassandra Anthemyst_: no, the fact that Harry has a squib son has nothing to do with the other little details – it was just an additional thing that will prove important in story #3.

_'mione weasley: _thanks for writing three times and sorry for not having updated so long.

_Crazycutee831_: IMHO the fact that Draco's mum looked as though there was dung under her nose doesn't mean that she couldn't be pretty. It rather meant that she was a bit haughty – but probably she had only been ordered by Lucius to look like that in the Weasleys' presence. For more on the topic, ask Rowling :) No, the story won't end before school starts. The last chapter will be posted some time in September or early October. Story #3 will be posted as soon as I'm ready with it – and I'm only around the middle. The other fic I'm writing (that has nothing to do with this series) will probably be posted next spring, because I have only written one single chapter of it and don't feel like writing it right now. I want to concentrate on the third part of the trilogy. You asked whether I had lost some reviews because of ffnet break-down. Yes, I did – TGSoHH had around 2010 reviews (although many of them were by accident submitted for several times), and then came the break-down and suddenly I had by 30 less reviews. No problem, I have 2011 again :))

_Eclectus_: nice to see you again, I already thought that you had forgotten about me! :) The Tatyana-Natasha thing was made up by me, but in the story it is true, not just a legend. There were runes on the stones of the secret 'stable portkey' with which you can get to Durmstrang, but it was just an unimportant detail. About Narcissa, read my answer to jeanine23Dr. The India thing Tatyana was talking about took place in the ninth century (according to Beautiful Bill's Biography). Although I'm not sure that it's historically all  right – sorry if it's not, another Indian reader of mine has already told me the mistakes I made on India. Anor is a Swedish Viking who had lived in the area of the current Russia. Why did Aouda become Natasha? Well, she just chose herself a Russian name, because she was living among people who were mainly Russian. Yes, I'm having a lot of fun with Draco's character – it's nice making him a bit kinder than usual. You asked whether I was majoring in writing. Nooooo… I'm studying foreign trade, economics and from next term Public Relations – these things have nothing to do with writing at all. No one has ever taught me how to write, but I've always loved writing – already in the primary school. Whenever the literature teacher asked us to write a composition, I felt downright excited – I guess I'd die if I couldn't write anymore :) 

_Rose:_ I visited your site, it looks really cool. However – if you let me remark on something – those always flashing little yellow things are a bit tiring for the eye. And there's a link that has green background, making it almost impossible to read the text. You should maybe choose another color. Apart from that, the site is very good – I envy you, I have no idea how to make a webpage at all :(

_apple-pie_: my vacation has been okay, thanks. And yours? Where have you spent it?

Also thanks to: _Indigo Ziona, Notebook Girl, Blondie in Disguise, Lady Python, Jaz, GinnyPotter387, Lana Riddle, princesswitch, Elfangor19, Lavendar Brown (twice), Saphron, PrincezzShortie, Harrysgirl, VeRyWiLdWiTcH, Princess Faerie of Neopia, AmandaPanda, PepsiAngel, kitch, teacherchez, PadmeSkywalker, rebkos, goldenstar555, MidniteSunrise, Arif, Peggy Sue, amazing typo, spangle*star, kim, Ari Potter, 2Coolio_

Chapter 29 Frozen hearts, melting bodies 

Ginny felt as though a dagger had been stabbed into her heart. "W…what?" she stammered, clutching at her chest. "You don't mean it, do you?" she looked pleadingly at the old man. "Please… tell me that you didn't meant it!"

The old man shook his head. "I am truly sorry, madam, but he is really dead. I have seen him die."

"When? How?" Mileta cut in, looking just as shocked as Ginny.

"I was down by the lake with the others… when… when that whirlwind came… I saw an unfamiliar wizard… he was making the whirlwind… there was the potions teacher with him… they were holding hands as though they had been lovers or something… then he… he killed Harry Potter."

"But why?" Ginny shrieked, grasping the old man's robes. "Tell me! Why?"

"I… I don't know… that wizard only shouted some kind of a spell at him and Potter collapsed… dead. I remember… everyone started to scream, pointed their wands at the evil wizard, but they couldn't do anything… the whirlwind took them all."

"But where's the body?" Draco asked, his complexion just as pale as that of the women.

"The soil was frozen… so I cut a hole into the ice of the lake…" the old man's voice trailed off.

Ginny ran up to the window, gazing out onto the lake, tears coursing down her cheeks. "Why did he kill my Harry?" she whispered, eyeing her husband's icy 'tomb'. "Why? What did Harry do that he had to die?"

"Well… he slept with the evil wizard's girlfriend." came a voice from behind. It was Anna Karenina.

"What?" the old man gasped. "Harry Potter… slept with the Potions teacher?"

"Was… was it avenge, then?" Ginny blinked.

"Very possible." Anna shrugged. "Anyway, when I used to haunt the dungeons, once I happened to enter a room that I didn't even know existed… there was a guy with long black beard sleeping in there… he was the same who made the whirlwind… though I still don't know who it is."

"But why did she sleep with Harry?" Ginny asked, clinging to this one detail. "Why, and…?"

Draco put a hand on her shoulder. "Leave the questions to another time. Now it is time to grieve and remember. Not to ask."

"No!" Ginny tore herself out of his embrace. "It is time for revenge!" she bellowed. _'Revenge… revenge… revenge…_' the walls of the corridor echoed her voice. "I'm going to kill that man!" _'Kill that man… that man…_'

"Ginny, calm down!" Draco said, reaching out for her hand, but she jumped back, stretching out her wand-hand in front of herself, rage and hate sparkling in her emerald eyes.

"Ginny!" he yelled, holding his wand in defence-position. "I want to help!"

"Then come and help me kill Harry's murderer!" she howled, her face as red as her hair, her voice shaking.

"I'm sorry. _Stupefy!"_ Draco said and she fell to the floor, unconscious. He turned to the others. "I'm going to take care for her – she needs rest… and protection… against herself. She is dangerous in her current state."

Draco bent down and scooped her body up, heading upstairs.

* * * * *

Draco placed the woman's lithe body on the bed and tucked her in. Even unconscious, her face revealed her suffering. Draco sat on the bed, taking her hand into his, gently caressing it.

"I know how you feel." he whispered, knowing that she couldn't hear him. "Or maybe not. I know what it feels like to lose whom you love… it happened to me as well… though the woman I love did not die. She is still alive… but loves another. I don't know… some time I might have a chance with her… you know, she's a widow. Do you think… do you think that I should hope? Hope that she might reciprocate my feelings someday?"

"You should." came a quiet voice from the door that stood half-ajar.

"Oh, it's you." Draco looked up to see the old man standing there. 

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to eavesdrop." the old man apologised. "I just wanted to come and ask whether I could help with something… for example take care of the young lady while you go to sleep."

"I'm not going to sleep." Draco shook his head.

"But you should. It's already past ten o'clock. You look tired." the old man approached the bed. "Go. I'll sit up for her and won't let her harm herself."

"How could you prevent it?" Draco gave him a sad smile. "She's a powerful young witch and you're a weak old Muggle."

"Trust me." the old man said. "I can take care of her… and if there's problem, I'll tell you."

Strangely to Draco, he felt some kind of trust for this guy, although he didn't even know his name. "Really," he said, "what's your name?"

"My name?" the old man blinked. "Call me Piotr."

"Okay, Piotr." Malfoy nodded. "I'm going to get some sleep. My room's right under this one. Should she wake up and do something stupid, just knock on the floor. And…" he reached out for Ginny's wand, "I'd better take this."

"Good night, Draco Malfoy." Piotr said.

"G'night." the young wizard turned back from the door-frame. "Hey, how do you know my name?"

"The invisibility cloak." the old man squinted at him. "I was standing there in the cloak, close to you when you introduced yourselves to the ghosts."

"Oh. I see." Draco nodded and left the room.

* * * * *

The old man was sitting by Ginny, looking down at her like a grandfather would look at his granddaughter – his expression full of care and concern. He was sure that the young woman was dreaming, for her eyelids were moving fast – like they do in REM sleep. 

And she _was _dreaming – reliving the happiest moments of her life that she had spent with Harry… 

_"You are not mad because I love you, are you, Harry?"_

_"How… how can you think of such a thing? Mad? No, Ginny, on the contrary. I'm glad that you love me."_

_"M…marry me?" _

_"Yeah. I'd be honoured if you married me, Virginia Weasley. I love you."_

_"…maybe it was the will of fate. Perhaps it wanted to test us. To see whether our love was strong enough to bear all this… and it is strong enough, Harry. No matter, what happened or what may happen in the future, I will always love you, and I don't care if our future babies aren't magic. We'll still love them. So… I say it's no worth refraining from expressing our love to each other. Express it, Harry. Show me how much you love me."_

_"Oh, Ginny." _

"Harry…" she whispered, tears flowing down her cheeks. 

The old man's heart sank, seeing this beautiful young creature suffering so terribly – even in her sleep.

"It's okay." he reached out with a wrinkly hand to wipe her tears away. She must have felt his hand on her skin, because her eyes fluttered open and she sat up.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Don't you remember me? I'm the guy you met today. Aberforth Dumbledore's servant."

"The old man…" she whispered, suddenly realising what getting to know this old man meant for her: getting to know the truth about her husband's death. "Oh…" she bent her head down, beginning to sob and shake.

The old man reached out and pulled her to himself, so that her red head snuggled into his long, white beard. She felt good and protected in his embrace, though she couldn't explain why. He caressed the top of her head while she sobbed into his beard, making it all wet.

"Cry. Just cry. It helps." he said softly, and she did cry for minutes. When she finally felt her tears ebb, she drew back from the embrace of the old man.

"What were you doing in my room?" she asked, sniffing.

"Watching over your sleep." he gave her a benign smile.

"But why? You don't even know me."

"I had a daughter and you remind me of her." Piotr said. "When she needed me I was always there for her… to lull her into sleep, to console her when she was sad…"

"And where's your daughter?" Ginny asked.

"She died. Along with my wife." Piotr sighed.

"I'm sorry." she said. "At least I have my children… they are my everything… they are all that's left for me."

"And one day you might find a new father for them." the old man said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"What?" Ginny hissed. "No way! No one can ever replace Harry! I will never ever get married again!"

"Are you sure?" Piotr asked. "You are so young… the whole life is still before you. There might be someone whom you will be able to love again."

"No! No one!" she snapped. "I'll be faithful to Harry's memory!"

"Faithful to the memory of someone who slept with another?" the old man shook his head. "He didn't deserve you. He deserved to die."

"No!" Ginny turned away. "He… he… was bewitched… he believed that woman to be me!" she started sobbing again. "Please, leave my room. I need to be alone."

"I'm sorry but I can't. I promised to Mr. Malfoy that I'd take care of you."

"Malfoy!" she growled. "What does he think of himself? That he's my father?"

"No." the old man said sternly. "But he cares for you."

"Cares? All he cares for is to get me laid!" she spat. "But he won't get it… we didn't find Harry, after all… not alive, not even dead. I'll never pay him."

Although the old man had no idea what she was talking about, he didn't say a word.

* * * * *

Next morning the three champions and Draco gathered in the staff room to discuss what could be done, but they didn't find any kind of solution to their problem.

"Really. We're stranded here, cannot help the others, and there's also that frozen guy who we don't know anything about…" Dennis sighed, munching a sandwich.

"Frozen guy?" Draco raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"A man frozen in ice." Mileta said sullenly. She seemed to have cried over the night. 

"We found 'im during ze second task." Guillaume added.

"This should be interesting." Draco said. "Could you show him to me?"

"Well, he's down in the ice cave." Dennis shrugged. "We could go down again… though I don't really feel like doing so."

"Neither do I." Mileta shook her head. "But if we can't help the others, maybe we could help this man. Melt him out or something."

"Yeah, that'll be fun. Come, we'll show the route." Dennis told Malfoy and put down his sandwich. 

* * * * *

"What is he doing here?" Ron pointed at Lucius Malfoy. 

"No idea." Arthur replied. "A Malfoy visiting us at the Burrow? This is really interesting."

Molly stepped to the door to let Lucius in. "Good morning." she greeted him. He only nodded and walked into the living room of Burrow Manor.

"What are you doing here?" Arthur raised an eyebrow. "The time isn't convenient for us to have guests – we are preparing for the journey to Durmstrang."

"And that's why I'm here." Lucius said. "I'm coming with you."

* * * * *

"This is creepy." Draco said, eyeing the man with long, black beard. "He looks so… alive. He's just not moving."

"Yeah. We said the same." Dennis replied. "Do you know how to melt him out?"

Draco shrugged. "I'm not sure… I think he's dead. Even if we melt him out he won't revive."

"Don't you know a charm to revive him?" Dennis kept inquiring.

"Should we revive him at all?" Malfoy asked. "He looks cool this way… Anyway, how could I know an appropriate charm?" he knitted his eyebrows.

"Well… you used to be in Slytherin, after all. And you're a Malfoy as well. You should know some dark arts to do stuff like this…"

"I have to disappoint you, Creevey. I don't know anything that could be useful now. There's only a simple heat charm…"

He pointed his wand at the translucent ice-wall of the cave and said: "_Calor."_

The ice started to melt, but the process was quite slow. After five minutes the four of them were standing in a puddle and some parts of the frozen man's body had been freed from the captivity. His hands, beard and nose were already out of the ice.

"You could help me, you know." Draco said. "Let's do it together."

The three champions raised their wands and said the incantation in unison.

In the next instant the cave's floor was flooded with water and the man, that had been held prisoner by the wall, fell into the water with a splash.

"Catch him!" Draco shouted, wading through the water to reach the floating body of the man. "_Mobilicorpus_!" he said, lifting the limp body into the air. "We are going to take him up to the castle. There we either revive him or bury him properly."

The other three nodded, following him and the hovering body.

After ten minutes they reached the castle and Draco dropped the man's body onto the tile floor of the entrance hall. "I suggest we all go up into our rooms and change into something dry. This guy won't run away until we're changing."

They all left the black-bearded, motionless man and headed upstairs.

* * * * *

His senses assaulted him all at once. The air bit at his skin with a thousand icy teeth, wind seemed to rush around his ears at hurricane volumes, he couldn't feel which way was up and which way was down, he felt the whole world spinning around himself, he felt dizzy and  nauseous… and then came the visions. Visions from his childhood, visions of himself and his twin brother playing together, images of their brave and righteous father, their nice and beautiful mother… memories of his wife… and the last day of his life… The betrayal of his brother, his high-pitched, vicious cackling as he flipped his wand, pointing it at him… 

He sat up, taking a breath as though it was the most wonderful thing in the world… breathing again. The air felt cold in his lungs, but it was full of oxygen, stimulating his whole body, activating his slumbering mind, making him feel alive.

He rubbed his eyes, looking around to see a hall so huge that he felt extremely small in it.

"Would you look at that!" someone shouted, the voice coming from above his head. He slowly turned around to see six people descending the stairs. Four of them were practically running, the other two – a red-haired woman and an old man with long, white beard – followed them somewhat slower. 

The four fast-runners reached down to him in no time, dropping to their knees, looking at him with dumbfounded expressions.

"How did he revive?" a young boy with brown hair asked in a strange language. 

"Dunno." a blond man with grey eyes shrugged. "How did you wake up?"

The black-bearded man blinked. These people around him were speaking in a language that he had heard and learnt during his journey to the British islands, but they were speaking this language in a rather unusual way. Not with the same pronunciation…

"Who are you?" he asked from the people surrounding him.

"I'm Draco." one of the blonde guys replied.

"Dennis."

"Guillaume."

"Mileta."

"Ginny."

The old man, though, did not introduce himself. His lips were trembling and his eyes glinted with fear under his hood. "You… _you!_" he burst out. "You took them all!"

"What?" the black-bearded man asked, feeling confused. "What did I do?"

"You are the evil wizard who kidnapped everyone from here!" Piotr yelled at him.

"Evil wizard?" the newly revived man blanched. "_My brother_. Anor. You are talking about him… that means, that he_… he's awake_? Oh, no."

"What?" Draco asked. "The wizard who kidnapped everyone from here is your brother?"

"Yes. He must be… if he looks like me…" the black-bearded man replied. "We are twins. That's why the old man here has mistaken me for him. My name is Aaron, by the way."

"Aaron…" the red-headed woman knelt down next to him. "How came that you were frozen?"

"My brother…" Aaron replied quietly. "He and his lover, Natasha…" he looked up and his glance fell upon a huge statue of a woman. "Her! She is that bitch!" he jumped up, pointing at the statue. "Natasha! My brother's lover! They plotted it, together! They wanted to take over the wizarding world…" for a second he seemed to weaken, he leant to the window-frame, trying to support himself. No doubt, he was in shock. His glance fell at the lake.  "We…" he wheezed, "…we were just spending the winter solstice holidays here… we had a small house next to the lake… I guess right where this castle… or whatever is standing now… The holidays started well, I didn't suspect anything… Then one day Anor killed my wife and then got rid of me, as well… froze me. Then… he murdered our father… I saw it, because my soul left my body for a couple of minutes after having been frozen… I saw it all… our father fought him… but he was old and weak… all he could do against Anor was to accomplish a final charm with which he managed to send Anor into an eternal sleep. Then father, who had been seriously injured, died. My soul was sucked back into my body again, because I wasn't dead, after all… so I spent all my time in a frozen body, oblivious to the events outside for who knows how long… really, what date is today?"

"25th March." Guillaume replied.

"But which year?"

"2000."

"What?" Aaron gasped. "Two-thousand? I have… I have spent more than a millennium in ice, then! 1104 years!"

"Mr. Aaron," the red-haired woman spoke up again, "your brother has kidnapped about six-hundred people from here. Do you have an idea where he could have taken them?"

Aaron looked into her clear, green eyes, and saw despair in them. "Mr. Aaron, I have already lost my husband because of your brother. But there's still my sister-in-law, who is expecting twins… she has to be found… and we have other friends there, as well. We want to save them. Do you know where we could find them?"

Aaron heaved a deep sigh. "I guess I know. And I'll take you there… but first I'd like to get some dry clothes, if you don't mind."

**A/N2**: REM means Rapid Eye Movement. When you are dreaming, your eyes are moving very fast under your eyelids, and you are in the REM phase of your sleep.

The 'reviving' part in this chapter has been borrowed from the book Return of the Jedi by James Kahn. I re-wrote that short paragraph a bit, but I used most of Kahn's original text because I thought that I couldn't have written a better 'after-effect of melting thingie'. Han Solo's melting in RotJ was just perfectly written, I hope Mr. Kahn doesn't mind me borrowing a couple of lines from there.


	30. A glimpse into your heart

A/N: first of all: sorry to _Cedric!Diggory!Fan_ and _NuttyBuddy_ for not mentioning their names for the last time, but their reviews for chapter 28 got only displayed on ffnet AFTER I uploaded chapter 29. Of course I appreciated their reviews a lot. 

_princesswitch:_ the ice-cream idea made me rotfl:)))

~_VWW_~_:_ so, you found the chapter short? Then I have good news for you: the chapters of the third part of the trilogy are damn long, (with the exception of the prologue). The average chapter-length in that fic will be the same length as the 34th chapter in TGSoHH, and that's really long.

_Notebook Girl_: oh, you poor one, already having homework! School for me only starts in the middle of September.

_MauiGoddess3_: how long has Draco loved Ginny? Since their seventh year at Hogwarts (you know that Malfoy and Harry had to repeat their seventh year because they were away from Hogwarts most of TGSoHH). Draco started to like Gin when she helped him after he had been beaten up by another Slytherin (see chapter 7 of TGSaWCS). Yes, Herm's twins are due 1st September, but I won't describe their birth, just mention their names in the final chapter. You'll be able to read a lot about them in the third fic.

_Bucky:_ my Jedi master, I have resisted the Dark Side, don't worry. D/G is against my Jedi philosophy, though I do not think that Draco is a Sith Lord – he is not that bad, the Force told me. You'll see him having a girlfriend in story #3, though it won't be Cho Chang (Yuck, I hate Cho! One day I'll behead her with my lightsaber and that will turn me to the Dark Side, master…) Excuse me, now I have an appointment with councillor Palpatine (you know, that nice guy who is going to make me his right hand when I'll be strutting in a sexy black, shiny suit and matching helmet – hm… Force-visions told me so :) 

_Cassandra Anthemyst_: calor is both Spanish and Latin.

_K. C. Hunter:_ I don't like the Young Jedi Knights series. Though I only read two books of it, I found those terribly boring. And I hate Jacen and Jaina, and those books are about them, so that might be the other reason why I hate them. NJO is a bit better, at least something happens in there – though I stopped reading that, too. Yes, English is NOT my first language. Oh, is reading my fic more enjoyable than sleeping??? :)

_Aimee:_ I wouldn't put anything past myself, either :) I'm glad you like Aaron's character.

_Lily Chelstane_: no possibility of another green flame torch, because its chamber had closed in TGSoHH for another 1000 years.

_aurora riddle_: no, the central figure of the third fic won't be Lily, but she'll have much more of a role than in the first two fics. The 3rd story will be mainly about the Potter+Weasley+other kids. You have no idea how much I hesitated before starting a 'new-Hogwarts-generation-fic', because that's not something easy, IMHO, you've got to make up a lot of characters to fill the classes and everything... I hope I'm still doing it okay… we'll see:)) Aaron does have a bit to do with Tatyana – Tatyana/Natasha was the lover of Aaron's brother.

_Elfangor19_: no, Harry wouldn't be able to suck the powers back, because this Exsugo vium magicae charm/curse is wandless magic – thus you HAVE TO have magic talents to perform it. And Harry lost his powers.

_Katie Bell:_ the absolute best? *blush* thanks :) You have no idea how much this means to me nowadays…

_Myr Halcyon_: no, Rowling hasn't told us about the reason why certain people become ghosts and why others don't. As far as I know, she is going to tell in book five. Sorry, there will be no encounter between ghostly Harry and Ginny, neither will there be a happy D/G ending. I cannot bear the thought of Ginny and Draco together. In fact I was just having fun with them, but no way would I make them become a couple. Sorry… I hope you'll still keep reading the story.

_Tifanee Weasley_: wow, you are really changing names very often! :) Yes, Aaron was frozen in 896 A.D – you know why I chose that particular year? Because that was the year when the Hungarians came into the area of today's Hungary and settled down. I used it as a tribute to my ancestors :) But of course the story has nothing to do with the Hungarians, LOL. The bad guy is called Anor, not Olaf.

_starheart_: don't worry, I didn't take your review as a flame, not even as constructive criticism – it was just a grammatic mistake that you corrected – thanks!

_Moony Lover_: your sister is one year older than me. I don't have nieces or nephews.

_GinnyPotter387_: you asked what good movies I have seen lately. Well, I saw Scooby Doo, but I didn't like it – totally stupid! I also saw The sweetest thing with Cameron Diaz, that was pretty funny, but the one that I loved the most was a German western parody, The shoe of Manitu. There was a homosexual Indian in there, wearing pink clothes and living on a ranch called Puder Rosa! The last movie I saw was Asterix and Obelix – mission Cleopatre. It was funny, but the first Asterix movie was better.

_starqueen_: thanks for writing me the 'missing Weasley theory'. I don't think that the Weasleys had children that got killed or something – maybe Molly and Arthur just used some contraceptive charm…But Bill and Charlie's age isn't all right – Rowling really made a mistake there, and I had noticed it ages ago.

_grambones:_ should I write book five? LOL:) Noooo, IMHO Rowling has already written the whole book but she might want to write the other two as well before letting it be published, maybe in order to avoid plot mistakes… dunno. Read my answer to aurora riddle.

_Jeanine23Dr:_ you asked about the Star Wars concept. Well, I'm giving you a short summary of the SW history – I hope that is what you need. So, at first there was a Galactic Repulic, in which the Jedi knights were the guardians of peace and justice. They wielded lightsabers and used the Force (a mystical energy which allows the Jedi to lift objects with their mere thoughts, to see into the future and make other people obey their will). There were also the lords of Sith, who wanted to do away with the Jedi knights. The chief of state of the Republic – Palpatine – was a Sith lord in secret and he took over the power and created an evil Empire. He turned the Jedi Anakin Skywalker to the Dark Side and Anakin helped him kill all the Jedi. However, Anakin's son Luke and daughter Leia survived, and 20 years later Luke redeemed his father. Emperor Palpatine was killed by the good-turned Anakin and the Empire fell. Leia became chief of state in the New Republic, while Luke started training new Jedi knights. Leia married the space pirate Han Solo and had 3 kids (Jacen, Jaina, Anakin). Luke married Palpatine's former hand, Mara Jade, and had a son called Ben (named after Anakin and Luke Skywalker's late Jedi master, Ben Kenobi.) Now the galaxy is attacked by an evil species called the Yuuzhan Vong – these creatures came from another galaxy and they cannot be sensed through the Force – so the Jedi knights are in deep shit, practically unable to kill their new enemy. I haven't read Luceno's book, but I hope I have managed to give you enough information about the concept of Star Wars. If you need more, send me a mail! I wanted to mail you this little SW lecture, but I couldn't find your email-address.

_Lavendar Brown_: don't worry, just read my answer to Myr Halcyon. Did you get my mail that I sent to thethirdfloorcorridor? Maybe not. Anyway, I asked you whether it was okay to send you TGSoHH in a zip format – every chapter is in Word. Is that okay? Because if it's okay for you, then I'll send it to you.

_LilGinny_: thanks for writing twice. The weather is okay in Hungary – quite warm.

_Lana Riddle_: I'm glad you like my drawings on GT :) Why don't I post my fics there? Because the terms of service (or whatever) of GT require me to have my stories betaed by a GT author (or definitely one of the Queens) and I don't want that.  They wrote that they were quite busy, so I don't think that they would have time to read through 34+39 chapters soon enough. It would take them a year to read it through!

_xenocide:_ you must have heard another legend before, because Anor and Aaron were totally made up by me. Read my answer to Myr Halcyon. Yes, Ginny IS gullible – but she's so innocent, that's why. So, school started for you on Monday? You poor one… I have two and a half more weeks :)

_Houou:_ no, even if Tatyana dies, the spell still cannot be reversed. *aren't I evil? :))* About D/G, read my answer to Myr Halcyon.

_X-Tow-Naga_: space camp? Wow, what is it like? Tell me about it! Another reviewer has already pointed the 'avenge' thing out to me, so now I know it :) In fact Tatyana and his lover Anor do not need Harry, no matter how valuable a prisoner The Boy Who Lived could be. Now he wouldn't be valuable to them, given that he lost his powers. I also thought that English must have changed a lot during 1100 years, but poor Aaron HAD TO be able to communicate with the others. There must be a drying spell, of course, but Aaron could not perform it, because he had no idea that he still had his wand. He'll tell you about it in the next chapter, I guess.

_Harrysgirl_: happy belated birthday! And read my answer to Myr Halcyon.

Also thanks to: _Nefertiri, Hermione Weasley, Lady Python, Melinda Malfoy, Blondie in Disguise, C-chan/Sailor Capricorn, Jessica, PrincezzShortie, AmandaPanda, Alexander Pheonix,Kit Clodkicker, goldenstar555, Saphron, Sirius B, Novalee, Lupin's Angel, zzxm, apple-pie, thebiggesthpfan_

Chapter 30 A glimpse into your heart 

"No way. We aren't taking you!" Ron shouted at Lucius Malfoy.

"We could go separately as well," Malfoy shrugged, "but the more of us there is, the more of a chance we stand to find our relatives."

"True." Arthur nodded. "I don't want you to have delusions that we are pleased to go together with you, Malfoy, but we have to put aside our hostility now… for our children."

"I agree." Lucius nodded. "If you are ready, just tell me."

"I'm ready. But my twin isn't coming, is he?" Fred asked. For months he had been refusing to utter George's name and even when they were together, he always made it sure that he didn't have to talk to his twin.

"But of course I'm coming!" George shouted, storming down the steps. "Ginny's my sister as well! And Harry's my friend as well! I have just as much right to go as you do! And Mr. Malfoy was right: the more of us, the better. We take care of Gin and Ron can take care of Hermione."

"Who said I cared for Hermione?" Ron spat. He regarded the sheer assumption as personal insult.

"C'mon, Ron, don't say you don't care for her!" Fred said. 

"But I say it! I don't care for that…!"

Lucius' face revealed highest interest. "Problems with your little mudblood wife, Weasley?"

"Don't you dare insult her!" Ron burst out.

"Now you see! You do care for her!" George pointed out.

Ron shrugged and ran upstairs for his rucksack.

* * * * *

"Azgard?" Draco, Ginny, Dennis, Guillaume, Mileta and Piotr gasped.

"Yes. That's the name of the castle I and my brother grew up in." Aaron replied. "Our father named it after the Viking gods' heavenly palace. It is the only place where Anor could have taken your friends… if that castle is still standing, that is… but I'm sure that Natasha took care of it for my brother." he uttered both _Natasha_ and _my brother_ with sheer disgust.

"How far away is that castle?" Draco asked.

"Quite far away. It's on the northern tip of Norway. The North Cape."

"Brrr, it sounds cold." Dennis shuddered.

"It isn't much colder than here." Aaron replied.

"Not much colder? Now that's lucky!" Draco grimaced. "Apparate there or what?"

"You cannot just apparate out of Durmstrang." Mileta said. "And even if you could, we haven't learnt it yet. I for one haven't. Have you, boys?" she turned to the other two champions.

Dennis and Guillaume shook their heads.

"I hope you aren't planning to go without us." Dennis said.

"Well, in fact I think you should stay." Draco answered. "You're just kids, after all, and it wouldn't be proper to risk your lives…" for a second he cringed, realising that he sounded way too nice, so he added: "…and of course you, being not trained enough, could screw up our whole mission."

"We aren't staying!" Mileta cut in furiously. "My only brother is there! Our friends are there! I won't stay here, sitting on my laurels why you and Ginny go and fight!"

"Neither will I." Dennis added resolutely. "Guillaume?"

The French boy hesitated for a moment, then he nodded. "I also want to go… Svetlana's zere, too."

"Svetlana?" Draco raised an eyebrow.

"Professor Zvezda, astronomy teacher. Young, pretty and totally in love with Guillaume." Mileta made a wry face and Guillaume blushed a bit (though his blush wasn't that spectacular, given that his face still had a shade of light-purple, thanks to Mileta's botched potion).

"Right then… where do we find a transport big enough for six?" Draco mused.

"Seven." Piotr added.

"No way, old man!" Malfoy growled. "We aren't taking you! You surely would be killed, you're a sickly old Muggle, after all!"

The old man put an arm on Draco's shoulder and stared into his eyes. Draco found his stare oddly penetrating, even from under the hood of his cloak. "Listen to me, boy. I'm old that's true. Very old… so for me it doesn't matter where and when I die. If my destiny is to die there, helping to rescue those people, then so be it. But I'm definitely not staying behind while all of you go and fight. It was bad enough for me to be born a squib. If I can't be a wizard, at least let me die a hero. Don't deny me the chance." The old man's eyes flashed with such resolution and seriousness, that all Draco could do was nod. "Thank you." Piotr said and released his shoulder. "As for the problem of the transport… I believe that Mr. Anor did not take all magical creatures from here."

"But he did! He even took Vladi!" Dennis insisted. 

"Then tell me, young Creevey, what do you hear if you listen carefully?" Piotr asked, pointing at the half-open window.

"What?" Dennis furrowed his brow. "The wind, I guess… crows, maybe, and…" his eyes widened. "Sleigh bells!"

"Sleigh bells?" Draco looked confused. "A sled? With reindeers?"

"Not a simple sled and not simple reindeers." Piotr replied. "They are magical creatures. They belong to Aberforth Dumbledore… I told you, I have been looking after them for quite a while."

"So you know how to control them? How to fly that sled?" 

"Yes." the old man nodded. 

After they have all gathered their things and put them into the 'boot' of the sleigh, the three champions, Ginny, Draco, Aaron and the old man seated themselves into it. Draco had put an expanding charm on the sled so that everyone could comfortably stretch their limbs.

"Everyone sitting well?" Piotr asked.

_"Yeah…"_

_"Think so…"_

_"Are you sure this thing can fly?"_

"Yes, it _can_ fly." Piotr answered, then took the reins into his hands. "And now, pray."

"Why???"

"Because of… this!" Piotr said and jerked the reins. The reindeers swooped off the ground and soared into the air with such a speed that Ginny and Mileta shrieked, Guillaume and Draco closed their eyes and Dennis joined his hands and started mutter: '_Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name…_' 

The only person who didn't look scared at all was Aaron – he even leant a bit forward to have a better view and seemed to be enjoying himself terribly.

"Wonderful! Now I'm really happy to live again!" he yelped gleefully. "May I try?" he asked from Piotr, who shrugged.

"Be careful. Tricky little beasts, reindeers."

All eight reindeers turned their heads back and shot him a despising stare.

"They don't like me. Maybe they'll like you better." the old man said, handing the reins to Aaron, who enthusiastically grabbed them.

As soon as the reins touched his hands, the eight animals went berserk and went into a dive.

"What should I do?" Aaron shouted, while the two girls kept screaming, Guillaume and Draco still didn't dare open their eyes, and Dennis had reached the line: '…_for thine is the kingdom, the power_…'

"Give it back!" Piotr ripped the reins out of the hands of Aaron, who looked rather disappointed. "Dangerous creatures, reindeers! Not many can control them."

"How came you can?" Draco asked, opening his eyes.

"Mr. Dumbledore taught me." Piotr shrugged. "I had to be able to control them, since my job was taking care of them."

"And they still don't like you?" Dennis asked curiously after saying '_Amen_'. 

"Unfortunately." the old man replied. "Well, Mr. Aaron, which direction?"

"Just straight ahead."

* * * * *

The four Weasleys and Lucius apparated next to the four stones of the stable portkey.

"How exactly does it work?" Arthur asked.

"You have to step into the middle and touch two of the stones." Malfoy replied. "Want to do it first?"

"No, just go ahead. We'll follow you."

"But what if he reaches Durmstrang and seals the gate behind himself so that we can't get through?" George turned to his father.

"Charming, how much you Weasleys trust me." Lucius gave them a grim smile. "Anyway, what good would it do to me if I sealed the gate? I don't want to face the unknown without people who could die instead of me."

"I'd like to see it the other way around." Fred remarked. "You dying instead of us."

"Your children are really charming." Malfoy sneered at Arthur. "Come on, I will not close the gate and you'll get to Durmstrang, I promise."

The Weasleys shrugged and watched as Lucius stepped into the square and disappeared.

"You next, Ron." Arthur instructed.

After Ron went Fred, then George, finally their father.

"Er… not bad." George said, looking around in the huge entrance hall of Durmstrang after having been 'spat' out by the portkey.

"Bad or not, get off me!" Fred growled, tossing his twin off himself.

"A little bit gentler, couldn't you?" George grunted, massaging his butt, then stood up.

"I'm not gentle to someone who knocked up my girlfriend!" Fred hissed with clenched fists.

"I told you I believed her to be someone else! I was too drunk to realise it was her!" George retorted.

"Stop it, stop it, stop it, boys!" Arthur pulled Fred back. 

Malfoy gave them a belittling smile. "Really. Could you Weasleys behave properly for only two minutes?"

"I haven't heard it." Arthur replied, looking around in the entrance hall. "Hm, really not bad. Though Hogwarts looks better. At least there are no ugly stuff like this at the Hogwarts entrance hall." he said, sizing up Natasha Yanska's huge statue.

"Ugly? I think she looks cool." George whistled admiringly.

"Was that why you shagged Angie?" Fred frowned. "Because she looked cool? Did you just tell yourself '_oh, this chick looks cool, let's get her laid_? Did you?"

"I DID NOT KNOW IT WAS HER!" George shouted. "Can't you talk about anything else?"

"No!" Fred crossed his arms.

"Stop that, guys!" Ron yelled at them. "This thing about Angelina is getting really irritating!"

"Look who's talking!" Fred pointed Ron. "_Mr. 'I-love-my-wife-and-would-never-be-angry-with-her'!"_

"That's… non of your business!" Ron burst out.

"Calm down, all of you!" Arthur shouted. "Really! You are behaving like monkeys in the zoo!"

"Just _behaving_ like that?" Lucius raised an eyebrow.

The Weasley boys shot angry looks at each other and let Mr. Malfoy lead them upstairs.

"Funny that we haven't found anyone here." Arthur remarked. "Where's everyone? Hiding?"

"Yes, Weasley, sure, they're playing hide and seek." Lucius grimaced. "Really. They are kidnapped. It's clear, isn't it?"

"But where are they?"

"No idea." a voice right above them spoke up.

They looked up to see a ghost hanging from the ceiling.

"Who are you?" Fred asked.

"Yevgheniy Anegin at your service." the ghost replied. "And I don't know where they are, either. They were here just an hour ago, then they took the sled and rid away."

"Sled???" all the Weasleys gasped.

"Yeah, you know, that box on stuff that looks like skis… it can seat seven or eight people and there are reindeers to pull it… proper description of a sleigh?"

"Reindeers? Like with Santa Claus?" Arthur's eyes widened.

"Just like that."

"You said it seated seven or eight people." Ron cut in. "But at least seven-hundred people are missing from here. Where are the others? And who were the ones in the sleigh?"

"The people in the sleigh… well, let's see…" Anegin started to count, using his fingers. "The stuck-up blonde, Ms. Bushy-Eyebrows, the weenie one, the dragon guy, the red-head, the black-beard and the old codger."

"Who???" Ron blinked.

Hours had passed since they had arrived at the castle, but they knew no more than they did before. Well, at least they knew that Draco and Ginny were still alive when they left Durmstrang, but Anegin couldn't tell them where they had gone.

Ron was told by Anna Karenina's ghost where to find Hermione's room and he decided to have a look at it – he couldn't explain himself why, though. He wanted to find something in that room… something to prove his wife's guilt… or rather something to prove her innocence. As he looked around in the room, he suddenly felt extremely stupid. *What was I hoping to find here?* he thought, dropping himself on the bed. *Love letters lying discarded on Hermione's desk? Red roses with cards saying '_to Herm-own-ninny from Vicky'_?* he ran his fingers through his copper hair, ashamed. "Why did I question your faith, Hermione?" he whispered. "You never loved Krum, did you?" suddenly a thought came to him: what if there _were_ love letters hidden in one of the drawers?

He stood up and walked over the Hermione's desk, pulling open a drawer. He felt guilt wash over him as he dug into the heap of papers and quills. He found nothing suspicious. He moved to the next drawer, jerking it open, flinging out parchments and notebooks, then… he caught a glimpse of a little red booklet lying at the bottom of the drawer. He reached out with a trembling hand and opened it.

_Hermione Weasley's Diary_, he read. "Oh," he slapped the booklet shut, feeling awkward about having looked into another person's diary.

He dropped it back into the drawer as hastily as if it had burnt him, and walked back from the desk, as if it was something highly dangerous beast with fangs and horns.

He headed for the door, but he simply couldn't leave. As though a magnetic field had been holding him back…

"This is madness…" he whispered and ran back to the table, grabbing the booklet and practically tearing it open.

_Hermione Weasleys's Diary_

_26th December, 1998_

_I have decided to write a diary. When I was a little girl, my life was so dull with my dentist parents that I had nothing to write about. At Hogwarts life was so full of surprises and perils that it wasn't wise to write it down – one could never know who might dip into one's diary, after all…_

Ron gulped, feeling utterly embarrassed.

_After the Dark Lord's defeat, however, I started to believe that nothing dangerous could happen that should be kept a secret… so I've started this diary, one day after the most wonderful day of my life._

_Yes, yesterday I got married to Ronald Weasley – the guy whom I have been in love with since my fourth year at Hogwarts. (I still feel like giggling when I remember those times: Ron shouting at me after the Yule-ball because of me going with Viktor, I shouting at him because he never regarded me as a girl… I wish those times weren't over! However, if I was still fourteen, I wouldn't be married to him and that would be a great pity, wouldn't it?)_

Ron flipped over some pages that contained notes about Hermione's work in the school, about Harry's birthday – expressing Hermione's sympathy for Harry and Ginny because of Daniel being a squib -, he kept leafing through the diary until he reached Christmas of 1999.

_I'm home at last with my beloved husband! I can't tell how happy I am! Yesterday, when I arrived, he greeted me with a kiss lasting for about five minutes! I couldn't breath properly afterwards! He's such a cutie, Ron! And the way he kissed me… they way he made love to me three times in a row… WOW – that's the only appropriate word for it!_

Ron blushed from the memories of Christmas Eve and turned the pages over to New Year.

_I don't believe it! It's 2000! We have just celebrated it – Ron and Sirius got drunk, of course. Ron said he was making a New Year's wish, and I have to admit that I also made one: I would like to have a baby!_

Ron's heart sank. "That was MY wish as well!"

_I just keep watching Lily and Dannie, and they simply bewitch me! I can't wait to have a couple of children of my own – with Ron's hair, but NOT Ron's temper!_

He found himself smiling. Then he shuddered… these lines didn't sound like the thoughts of someone who had cheated on her husband! Not at all.

There were only a couple more pages written on and he couldn't resist the temptation to read into them.

_14th February, 2000_

_I have never felt so miserable before. No news from Ron at all. He believes that I cheated on him with Viktor! How can someone be so stupid??? I feel like slapping him in the face but he isn't here for me. I hate Valentine's Day!_

"Really?" Ron raised an eyebrow and continued to read. 

_Still Valentine's Day, only 11 p.m.,_ Hermione's writing said – but her always so neat hand seemed to have changed – it rather looked like scribble. Her hand must have shaken when she wrote it.

_I have just realised something… I wasn't sure at first, but my sicknesses also referred to it, after all… I looked at my calendar, and it just reassured my suspicion: I am pregnant._

The booklet fell out of Ron's hands.

**A/N2**: *the author is depressed. Her grandpa is very ill and she is under a huge deal of stress. Still, she'll try and update more often – but you'll have to keep reviewing in order to make her _want to_ update.*

This is not a threat, of course, but the fact is that after the one-month ffnet break-down I lost several readers who might have forgotten about the story because of the long break. I'm starting to feel a bit neglected and I'm happier about every single review I get than ever before. So please, those who up till now have been too lazy to click 'submit review', do so. Just drop a line, that's enough. To those who have not forgotten me and remained faithful: A BIG THANKS. *author out, she has to get a hanky.*


	31. En route

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A/N: some people said that I was kind of begging for reviews. Truth be told I really didn't know what I was doing when I posted the last chapter – I was so beside myself with worry about my grandpa, I was depressed and hysteric and I felt I'd feel a little bit happier if some of those readers who had stopped reviewing would review again. To those who have resumed giving feedback after a long time of not doing so – thanks. It made me very happy, indeed. Also thanks to everyone who wrote 'I hope your grandpa gets better soon' – it meant a lot to me. Actually he is feeling a little bit better after he got operated.

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An Angry Reader: I do not think I'm always right. I'm far from that. I've made a lot of mistakes both in real life and in my fics, and I admit that. You didn't understand what the ghost referred to. So: the stuck-up blonde was Guillaume Lochar (the Beauxbatons champion), Ms Bushy-Eyebrows was Mileta Krum (she has just as bushy eyebrows as Viktor), the weenie one is Dennis Creevey (Rowling always said that he was very small), the dragon guy was Draco (you know that Draco means dragon in Latin), the red-head was Ginny, the black-beard was Aaron and the old codger was Piotr. About Our Father – an American Christian woman sent me the text of The Lord Prayer and it ends with "….and deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power, the glory, forever. Amen". Maybe she sent me an improper text, I don't know. And yes, I'm Catholic. I wasn't begging for reviews, I just said the truth – that many people had stopped reviewing, and – believe it or not – many of them admitted that they hadn't stopped reading just were too lazy to review. I don't think that people worship me (never thought so), on the contrary. If you knew me, you'd know what a shy girl I am – someone who had never before been recognised at all by anyone. Ffnet gave me a little bit of what other people had been given all their lives. And it did not go to my head – I'm still aware that I am just a simple, unimportant girl whose only happiness is writing boring stories. I don't know about you, but I don't read fics that I find boring. So, if you don't like the story, just stop reading.

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GinnyPotter387: you miss Harry? So do I :)

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Arif: don't worry, you'll see David at Hogwarts in the third fic – and you were right about his house: definitely Hufflepuff! I decided to sort him into that house half a year ago :) He won't be fat, just a bit pudgy. I have read Hitchiker's guide to the Galaxy and absolutely love Ford Prefect!

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Waldomier: thanks for correcting my English error! I noted that the past tense of ride is rode :)

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twinkle-toes: sometimes I also have the problem of not being able to go to the rest of the chapters. In such cases click on the X (stop) in your browser and click 'reload' – you'll get to the other chapters. Azgard (or Asgard, I don't know how exactly to write it), is the Viking heaven where the Viking gods live – I supposed it was a palace for the Viking gods as well, just like the Mount Olympus for the Greek gods, but I might be wrong, of course.

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Faunix: I promise to update more often than in every 15 days. See, I last updated on Wednesday and now I'm updating on Monday. Not even a week passed between the two updates.

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the coffee fiend and _Black Ice_: I'm glad you didn't forget about my fic.

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Katie Bell: read my answer to Tifanee Weasley (below)

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Mazipoto: thanks. Prayers is exactly what my grandpa needs now :))

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Blondie in Disguise: I'm sorry about your grandma. My grandpa also had cancer and got operated – I hope he'll heal totally, but it will be a very slow process :( I know that Jesus loves me, he's so nice to love everyone :) I'll pray for your grandma.

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zzxm: yes, I would have liked to see Ron's face when he read the last line in Herm's diary :) 

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Rabble: Draco WILL fall in love with someone else – in the third fic. (this means: he survives this fic :))

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Bucky: I know that I have many reviews, but after the ffnet breakdown I got 40% less reviews than before it, and I feared that many of my readers had forgotten about this story. Now many of them admitted that they were just too lazy to drop a review, so I'm happy.

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NuttyBuddy: what did Angelina think? Well, she was upset and nervous, I mentioned it once in chapter 25, I guess. But Angie won't have a real role in this fic anymore (though the Fred/George/Angie triangle will be solved, don't worry).

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TaMaraR: Angelina is about 4 and a half months pregnant. She got pregnant on Guy Fawkes' Night (5th November), and it's March in the fic now. 

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goldenstar555: yes, I'm writing the third fic of this series, while still making small amendments in this one. I have written 17 chapters of the third fic, and those 17 chapters together are longer than the 34 chapters of TGSoHH. Fic #3 will have less chapters than the first two, but will still be relatively longer.

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Elfangor19: award for the best author? *blush* thanks. I don't think I'm the best at all, but it still feels good to know that some people like my fic.

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X-Tow-Naga: you are right, Harry could still be valuable, but no, he is not in prison. Perhaps Anor didn't think of luring British wizarding officials to himself by capturing Harry. He is evil, but not necessarily the most intelligent guy. Why wouldn't the Weasleys ask for Albus' help? Because Albus does not know where Durmstrang is. As it was said in chapter… 4, I guess, only Hermione, McGonagall and the Hogwarts-bus-driver knew where it was. I assume that if it had been Albus who had escorted the students to Durmstrang, then he would have been told where exactly it was, but he decided to send Minerva and Hermione instead, thus Viktor Krum let only Minerva and Hermione in on the location of the castle. That might be a lame explanation, but remember how much Karkaroff didn't want to tell Albus anything about Durmstrang during the Yule ball in book 4 – I'd presume that Durmstrang is still keeping its secrets just as much as in the time of the late Karkaroff. 

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J-Kid: thanks for praying for my grandpa. And happy birthday! It really was only Dennis who was saying The Lord's Prayer – sorry if I didn't make that clear. I also think that Draco, for example, wouldn't know a prayer. He must be an atheist.

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Lavendar Brown: read my note to Blondie in Disguise about my grandpa.

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Wood's secret lover: my bio is just enough, IMHO. Read what I wrote to 'An Angry Reader' (the second half of it) and you'll understand why I'm not making such a big deal out of my bio. Because it's not important.

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Tifanee Weasley: I'm sorry about your grandpa. Yes, the dragon guy is Draco and the stuck-up blonde is Guillaume.

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cara: how do you pronounce Piotr? Well, it's a Russian name, of course, but I guess it has to be pronounced as Pyotr (so the 'i' in there has to be like the 'y' in the word 'you'.)

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Any last requests: what? You're not allowed to marry a red-headed guy? Oh… I have actually told mum that I LOVED red-headed children and would like to have such kids, and she told me: "well, then, get yourself a red-headed guy!" Mum is very understanding :))

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LilGinny: I don't know whether Aaron would be wearing leather, but you are free to imagine him in leather :) No, Aaron won't be killed. Yes, you are going to see Gildy and Sunny in chapter 38 a little bit, and there will be plenty of Lockhart in fic #3. *Lockhart-haters run away, screaming*

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xenocide: that's true that JKR never mentioned anything about religion, but Dennis is a Muggle-born wizard, so his whole family might be Christian, thus he can actually pray. In my next fic I'm going to show a bit of my 'Christian interpretation' of the HP world. It took me great courage to write that part, I hope it will make sense. IMHO wizards have different religions in every country. In Great Britain some of them might be Christian, in Egypt many of them might be Muslim, in India they might be Hindi, etc. But of course there has to be a great deal of wizards and witches who are atheists (like say, the Malfoys).

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Super saya-Jin Gotan: how nice to see you again! :))

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Crazycutee831: someone is going to die in this fic, but hopefully you won't be disappointed by it.

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aurora riddle: thanks a lot.

Also thanks to: _apple-pie_, _Notebook girl, Rabble, Cassandra Anthemyst, PepsiAngel, The Face of Evil, Lana Riddle, Jessica, C-chan/Sailor Capricorn, Sirius B, Saphron, Hermione Weasley, princesswitch, Houou, Lady Python, Harrysgirl, VeRyWiLdWiTcH, starheart, Kit Cloudkicker, Nefertiri, rebkos, 2Coolio, Princess Ginny, coolgal4u,Teri, Sara, Indigo Ziona, AmandaPanda, K.C. Hunter, Sky, Ronniekin's Sweetheart, spangle*star, Heathen Fair, Jeanine23Dr, PadmeSkywalker, PepsiAngel _

Sorry if I left out anyone.

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Chapter 31

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En route

As Fred entered Hermione's room, he found Ron standing by the window with a shocked expression on his face. His mouth was agape and he wasn't even blinking. He looked like those petrified people at Hogwarts eight years earlier. 

"Hey!" Fred moved his hand in front of Ron's face. "Anybody home?"

Ron shuddered and gripped his brother's hand, breathing: "She's pregnant."

"Who? What?" Fred asked, pulling his arm out of Ron's vice-like grip. 

"Hermione."

"Huh? How do you know?"

"Her diary." Ron turned red and bent down to pick up the small book from the floor. "She's going to have a baby, Fred! My baby! Holy stars, she's out there somewhere, kidnapped, maybe even tortured, while she's carrying my child!!! How could I be so stupid? How could I ever presume that she was unfaithful to me? How can I ever make this good? Hell, I should be boiled in frog-spawn! What a damned, despicable, dirty disgusting bastard am I?"

"Hey, hey, hey, calm down, little brother!" Fred yelled at him. "True as your assessment of yourself might be, you should stop gathering more of such appropriate epithets now… we've got to go."

"Go? Where?" 

"To a place called Azgard." Fred replied. "Malfoy said that our families were there."

"How does he know?" Ron knitted his eyebrows.

"Well, all I know is that he had been talking to the ghost of Anna Karenina then he left for the dungeons. He returned from there about an hour later, saying that he had found an empty bier with some script saying that it belonged to the ruler of Azgard or what… Malfoy insists that Azgard is where we have to go and that we should trust him."

"Trust him? I would rather trust professor Snape to send Harry a Valentine than to trust this… this…"

"No more epithets!" Fred reminded him.

"I simply don't trust him!" Ron burst out.

"Neither do I. But there's no other possibility if we want to find Ginny, Harry, Hermione and… your kid." Fred winked at his brother

Something warm engulfed Ron's heart, as if it had been wrapped into a nice, fluffy blanket. "My kid, huh?" he smirked at Fred. "'kay, let's try and trust Malfoy."

* * * * *

They had been flying for about an hour when Aaron finally pointed at the darkening horizon. "Azgard!"

Ginny and Mileta gasped, taken aback by the beauty of the castle that seemed to have been made of ice. Its steeples glittered in the moonlight, making the whole building shine in the night like some huge, white pincushion with its many spires reaching towards the skies. The whole castle stood on a huge rock right on the coast of the Barents Sea. One of its towers had been built in a rather peculiar way, so that part of it seemed to be 'hanging' above the water. Ginny supposed that it must have been propped by magic so that it wouldn't fall – just like some parts of the old Burrow.

"Beautiful!" Dennis breathed admiringly.

"Yes, it is." Aaron nodded and turned to Piotr. "Would you please put the sled down there?" he pointed at a snow-hill about one mile from the building.

"Well, I'll try… but I'm old, thus a bit short-sighted." Piotr strained his eyes, trying to make out the snow hill. 

"Why, aren't we flying up to ze castle?" Guillaume asked.

"Not exactly." Aaron shook his head. "We cannot just go there and knock on the front door, hoping that my brother will open it and embrace us as a welcoming. We've got to approach the castle in another way."

"How?" Draco asked.

"Underground." Aaron replied. "There is a maze of hidden tunnels under the castle. One of them has an entrance here at the hillside. I hope it hasn't caved in during the centuries."

They all got out the sleigh, eternally grateful to be in one piece after such a rough flight. 

"I suggest you stay and take care of the reindeers, old man." Draco said.

"No way, young man." Piotr said. "I'm coming with you. You can't keep me here."

Draco raised his wand, but Ginny grabbed his arm. "No! Let him come if he insists."

"He will only be a hindrance to us!" Malfoy reasoned. "He's old and cannot even walk quick enough! He's a burden!"

"A burden who took you here." Piotr pointed out.

"True." Aaron nodded. "Without him we wouldn't be here now. None of us knows how to control these creatures." he pointed at the reindeers. "We owe him that much."

Draco frowned. "I don't approve of this. You could get badly hurt, old man."

"Malfoy!" Ginny gasped. "You have just shown a sign of humanity!"

"Have I?" he blinked. "I didn't intend to…"

"You know what this means!" she said. 

"Keep dreaming!" he grunted and followed Aaron into the tunnel.

"_Lumos_." Aaron said, looking around with the small light at the tip of his wand. "The tunnel seems to be intact."

"Glad to hear." Malfoy replied. "By the way, where did you get your wand from? Was it frozen together with you?"

"Believe it or not, it was." the black-bearded man nodded. "I was surprised myself when I reached into my pocket and found my wand there. I was even more surprised to see that it was still functioning after having been frozen for eleven centuries. Tough wand, that one." he flung it proudly. "I just hope I will not have to use it on my brother…" he added with a sigh.

"You love him, don't you?" Ginny placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked into her understanding green eyes and nodded. 

"He turned bad, he killed people… even our father and my wife, but… he is still my brother… I couldn't kill him."

"Don't worry, we'll kill him for you." Draco said. "Start moving, Weasley!"

"Potter! How many times do I have to tell you?" Ginny burst out, tears brimming her eyes. "Harry might be dead, but I'm his widow and I'll go by the name of Potter as long as I live!"

"Okay, okay, don't go hysteric on me, will you?" he waved and headed down the tunnel.

"I was wrong. No humanity in this guy at all!" she spat.

"I'm tired!" Guillaume started to complain after two hours of walk. "I need to sleep or I'll 'ave dark shadows under my eyes!"

"Really, can't you think of anything else but your looks?" Mileta snapped. 

"What else should I think o'?"

"Well, your Beauxbatons friends, for example!" she replied.

"I 'ave no friends at Beaxbatons." Lochar replied, yawning. 

"I wonder why." Dennis rolled his eyes.

"If you have no friends, then at least think of professor Zvezda!" Mileta reasoned.

"Ah, ze lil' Svetlana… quite good in bed, she is."

"You slept with a teacher?" Mileta hissed.

"Shouldn't I 'ave?" Guillaume shrugged. "She wanted it, after all, not me."

"But this is still… disgusting!" she said.

"If you 'ad managed to sleep wiz 'Arry Potter, you wouldn't say it was disgusting, would you?" the French boy looked at her, his gaze penetrating. Mileta felt herself blushing and also felt tears coming. She diverted her stare and focused on the old man who was walking with difficulty.

With a sudden thought she walked up to him. "May I help?" she asked.

"No, thank you." Piotr gave her a smile. "I can walk on my own, I guess. I'm not _that_ old."

"Really, how old are you?" Mileta got curious.

"It's impolite to ask one's age!" Dennis said.

"Not always impolite." Piotr smiled. "Anyway, age does not count at all. Your real age is what you feel in your heart. If you feel older than you are, than you're older. If you feel younger, than you're younger."

"And how old do _you_ feel?" Guillaume interjected.

"Well, I feel about twenty." the old man winked at him, then suddenly tripped over a rock.

"Piotr!" Mileta and Ginny fell to their knees. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, don't worry." he replied in a faint voice.

"I told you that you shouldn't have come." Draco said. "Too hard for someone at your age."

"As I have told Ms. Mileta and Mr. Guillaume… age does not count." the old man wheezed. Ginny conjured a glass of water and propped his head to help him drink. He gave her a grateful smile as she lifted the glass to his lips. 

"We should stay here for a while, Malfoy." Ginny said. "Everyone's exhausted."

"All right. Three hours. No more." he nodded. "I'll keep a look out while you sleep. Go on."

After having put a strengthening charm on the old man, everyone took a nap.

Draco had been pacing the corridor for a while, watching as the others slept and listening to every little noise. There wasn't much to be heard – mainly the snores of Aaron and Mileta. As Draco walked past Ginny, the beam of his wand fell upon her face, and he was taken aback by the sight: she was crying in her sleep. He reached out to wipe away her tears, but his hand stopped in mid-air. He shook his head and walked away from her, dropping himself down on a rock, burying his face into his hands with a sigh.

"You love her." a voice spoke up.

Draco looked up to see the old man stand up, walk to him and seat himself down next to him.

"What?" Malfoy raised an eyebrow.

"I said you loved her. The red-head."

"What gives you that idea?" Draco tried to sound as nonchalant as possible.

"I saw you back at the castle, after she got to know about her husband's death… I heard you talk to her in a voice only a man in love would be talking in… and I've seen you now. You love her. You are trying to deny it, but no use, young man. You do love her."

"What if I do?" Malfoy scowled at him. "That's non of your business."

"Maybe not. Maybe yes." Piotr shrugged. "I just want to know about your intentions."

"What intentions?" Draco frowned. 

"Do you want to marry her?"

"Marry?" Draco laughed grimly. "Why would I want to marry her if I can get her without that?"

"Get her?" the old man's eyes flashed - whether with surprise or anger, Draco couldn't tell. Anyway, what did this foolish old fellow think of himself? What right did he have to question him about his relationship to Ginny? Well, maybe he was just the old, conservative type who didn't approve of the idea of 'unholy' relations without the blessing of a priest… "What do you mean by that?" the old man pressed.

"I meant that I could get her whenever I wanted… I have almost got her already."

"Explain." Piotr demanded.

"Well, she was quite willing to sleep with me when…" Draco's voice trailed off.

"When?"

"When that Mileta told her that her husband had slept with another. So, Ginny thought that her husband did it deliberately… cheated on her. She felt vindictive and wanted to avenge it… wanted to get laid by me. Of course she was in my debt as well… but she might have wanted me even _without_ being in my debt…" Draco shrugged.

"And… did you sleep with her… did you…?"

"No."

The old man's eyes shone under the hood of his robes… those penetrating eyes made Draco feel as though he had been X-rayed. "Why not?"

"Non of your business, Piotr."

The old man nodded, diverting his eyes, looking into the darkness of the tunnel. "I think you should get some sleep. I'll keep a look out for a while."

Draco nodded, happy that the discussion was over. Somehow he felt awkward in the old guy's presence. Something about this man just wasn't all right… his behaviour simply didn't make sense. But then again, Draco knew other crazy old people as well. There was for example Albus Dumbledore…

Soon they set off again – Guillaume complaining how short their rest had been. Mileta finally decided to kick him in the ankle, that – at least for a while – managed to silence him.

Aaron was animatedly talking to Dennis about the events of the past eleven centuries. He was more than eager to know everything.

"…Great Britain was a republic for mere eleven years, but apart from that it has always been a monarchy. The Queen's Elizabeth II."

"Queen? You mean a woman's the monarch?" Aaron looked surprised.

"Yeah, but she is not really sovereign, 'cause she receives her authority from the Parliament. That is to say, she reigns but does not rule." 

Aaron was quite confused by all the new concepts, so Dennis tried to explain everything from the Tories to the House of Lords, from eisteddfods to The Kirk, from GCSEs to Cambridge, from The Times to BBC.

"And the planes, do they really fly without magic?" 

"Yes, of course." Dennis nodded. "Muggles can be quite inventive and you would be surprised to see how well they do without magic. There are several wonderful inventions, for example, the Internet."

"The what?"

"Well, that's kind of a web that enables you to talk to anyone at any point of the world."

"A web? Like a cobweb, or what?" Aaron asked.

"No, it's all modern technique… you have no idea how many things there are that you don't know. After we have freed our friends, you should come to Great Britain and I'll show you everything… the cars, the telephone, the computers, the TV, the micro-wave oven… and my dad's cow, Dolly."

While Dennis and Aaron got immersed in a discussion about the Hubble space telescope, Piotr walked up to Ginny, who was extremely silent.

"A sickle for your thoughts." 

"Huh?" she looked up. "Oh, sorry. I didn't notice you there. I was thinking about…"

"The mission? The fight?"

"Not exactly." she shook her head. "I was thinking of Harry… I was wondering whether he could see me from… wherever he is… whether he was helping me from there to be able to hold out…"

"I'm sure he is." Piotr said gently. "He must have loved you very much."

"Oh, yes, he did." she sighed. "He loved me and I still doubted his faith… I fear that I'll never come to terms with it… that for the last time when I spoke to him, I was yelling at him, I was sending him away, I was… horrible to him. I wrote him letters to apologise and he wrote back that he forgave me, still… I could never ask for his forgiveness in person, and I'll never have the chance to do so… If I didn't have children, I…"

"No." he squeezed her arm. "Don't even think of that. No sensible man would ever wish that you follow him to the netherworld."

"I know he wouldn't…" a single tear coursed down her cheek. "Still I wish I could be with him there, or wherever he is…"

"If you love him, he'll be with you, forever. There, in your heart." the old man said quietly. "Those whom we love, never really leave us."

* * * * *

Every passing day in the dark cell was hell for its four occupants. Viktor Krum was more morose than ever, always scowling and furrowing his bushy eyebrows; Minerva spent all of her time trying to be as far away from Aberforth as possible, and Hermione felt utter lethargy. Her heart ached at the thought that she might never see Ron again, that she might never see anything else but these grey walls around herself… that Ginny would have to bring up her children without Harry… She had no idea what to expect in this cell where they were practically buried alive. Uncertainty was slowly killing her. She felt exhausted, nauseous and hopeless. She found herself crying at least ten times a day – then McGonagall would walk up to her and take her into her arms, whispering "It's okay, it's okay…" However, it didn't help.

Aberforth was the only one who hadn't lost his spirits – he kept telling them jokes, but all his jokes fell upon deaf ears.

"Really, Minerva, that was the best joke ever! Couldn't you just force a smile or something?"

McGonagall gave him a despising stare. "You are impossible, Mr. Dumbledore! Absolutely impossible. Don't you see where we are? Aren't you a bit sad about Harry Potter's death? Aren't you concerned where the others are?"

"One question at a time, Minerva!" Aberforth said. "First: where are we? Er… in a cell? Second: aren't I said about Harry?" he heaved a deep sigh. "You have no idea. My heart aches for him, because he was not only a wonderful wizard, but a great friend as well... and a good fisherman. Still, he's dead. He wouldn't want us to mourn forever. And thirdly: yes, I do feel concerned about the others, but what can we do now? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! All we can do is to try and stay alive, hoping that one day the way to freedom will opened for us. And if we forget that life can be beautiful… if we succumb to lethargy, then we'll definitely die. So dear Minerva," he stepped closer to her, "we mustn't forget how to laugh… because that's what gives us spirit… a will to live, to hold out."

"Aberforth…" she whispered, forgetting that she was supposed to call him Mr. Dumbledore. "I can't believe what I just heard you say…" she gulped. "I mean… you can be… _normal._ I never thought you could be this… wise."

Aberforth rewarded her with a smile. "I can, dear Minerva."

McGonagall sighed. "All right, then. Try and make us laugh. If you manage to make me laugh, I promise to forgive for your former behaviour, and I might also promise not to break any of your limbs in the future." 

"Deal!" he clasped his hands. "Then let me tell you about my story with the goat."

"I have already heard about that." Minerva shrugged. "The papers wrote about it."

"The papers!" Aberforth waved indignantly, leaning to the wall. "They didn't write down the half of it! They know nothing at all! I'm giving you the whole story now… be prepared for the greatest laugh of your…" he couldn't finish the sentence, because the wall he was leaning to, suddenly gave way and he fell – right before the legs of Draco Malfoy.


	32. And the blind shall see

A/N: thank you for the wonderful reviews! I have received nice reviews for the previous chapters as well, but I don't think that any of them were as cute as the ones I got for the last one. Thanks. And yes, my grandpa is feeling better :)) 

_LilGinny_: you are my 2000th reviewer for this fic!

_Lyny:_ no, you didn't miss anything. And don't worry about the D/G stuff, either. I hate the D/G pairing – I only did a bit of it for fun, but I didn't take it seriously - I'll always remain a H/G shipper.

_Arif:_ no, Aaron won't die. I don't know whether JK will ever tell us about the goat, but I bet that her story of it isn't as funny - or stupid - as mine :) Your Herm/Ron dialogue was really cool, but I cannot insert it into the fic. Don't worry, there will be an explanation why H and G cannot help but conceive. Wait till chapter 36 and you'll get to know. I must repeat: Harry does not have a magical penis (however funny it sounds :)

_GinnyPotter387_: thank you for sticking up for me. About All you need is love – I think it's an okay D/G fic – the only D/G fic that I read. But I still don't like D and G together. No, people in Hungary do not have a word like 'non' at all, I must have misspelled it, thanks for pointing it out to me!

_Jeanine23Dr_: you wrote: "only your story is where I think that Draco and Ginny should get together". Hm, sorry, but they won't. Have I really turned you into a Gildy fan? Hurray! Then I have good news: lots of Gildy in story #3! :))

_Lupin's Angel_: what is Dogma? A movie? You are going to hear the goat story in the final chapter.

_Dauphin_: thank you for making an exception and reviewing me. I'm glad you like Aberforth, he's one of my favourites. So, you thought that my depiction of Durmstrang was good? Thanks :) And you hate Ron… tut, tut, I like him. But I can't portray him another way… he's just like that. A prat. A lovable prat, though :) 

_princesswitch:_ 8 chapters together with this one.

_Hermione Weasley_: Albus Dumbledore doesn't know about anything that happened at Durmstrang. But you'll see him again in the final chapter and he'll have quite a lot of scenes in the third fic.

_MauiGoddess3_: it's March in the fic right now.

_Rose_: I have no idea when book five comes out :(

_Kamatazi Yumi_: what? You can't help seeing D/H? Uhhh… I can't imagine D/H! Slash is so... yuck. Sorry, but that's my opinion. You are right – the plot of the first fic is much sillier than this one, and the reason is the following: when I started to write that one I only wanted to write about 5-6 chapters in which Harry gets Gin pregnant and Ron is very angry. That would have been the original plot, and that is – I admit – a bit stupid. So it started as a silly little ficlet and turned out to be something longer later. Thanks for suggesting names for the kids, but I already have names for every single kid who is going to be born. You are going to get to know their names in the final chapter.

_Nefertiri_: the Fred/George/Angie thing will only be mentioned, but it will be settled, of course. The girl who Draco will fall in love with is a canon character, you know her. Okay, I tell you the secret: Hermione is going to have two girls and they will have been born by the end of the fic, but I won't show their birth. One labour-scene was enough in this fic. Herm is three months pregnant now.

_zzxm_: yes, I guess I'm going to write more H/G fics after this trilogy.

_star queen_: thanks for the cyberhug :))

_K.C. Hunter_: no, I haven't seen the pic of Lucius yet, I have no idea what he looks like.

_hazel_eyed_fairy_: where do I get my inspiration from? Hm… no idea. It just comes, but of course it does not always come. Sometimes I don't write for days, then I write two chapters a day – it depends on my mood. From this September I'm going to take Public Relations classes in the college.

_Indigo Ziona_: thanks a lot for the encouragement! Yes, David Dursley will be a Hufflepuff, no Slytherin.

_thebiggesthpfan:_ yes, it seems that some of the readers who had stopped reviewing started to review again, and I'm very happy about it!

_Haley J_.: the kids names are the following: Harry and Ginny's kids are Lily and Daniel. Petunia and Vernon's second son is David, Bill and Fleur's daughter is Yvette. There will be several other kids born in this fic, but don't worry, you won't forget their names, because they will play a major role in the third story.

_caroline_: I promise you a happy ending.

_X-Tow-Naga_: who exactly should have written a letter to Albus? I'm a bit confused. Why couldn't they apparate to Azgard? Because it is impossible to apparate out of Durmstrang (just like it is impossible to apparate out of Hogwarts). Why did Anor put those four into a cell connected to an escape tunnel? Well, Anor might know a lot, but – as he will mention in the next chapter – their father had always preferred Aaron, so perhaps Anor hadn't been told about the tunnel while Aaron knew about it.

Also thanks to: _Liger Zero Schneider, Bucky, Aimee, Black Ice, Houou, VeRyWiLdWiTcH, notebook girl, Katie Bell, Cloudzi, 2Coolio, Princess Ginny, Lana Riddle, tina, Elfangor19, C-chan/Sailor Capricorn, Magisch Machen, Melee, Child of the Universe, goldenstar555, Lady Python, Eclectus, NuttyBuddy, xenocide, twinkle-toes, starheart, Whit2005, PrincezzShortie, Novalee, baybee, Lavendar Brown, blaubaerin, apple-pie, Slytherin Angel _

Chapter 32 And the blind shall see 

"Mr. Malfoy!" McGonagall gasped. "Ginny! Dennis!" she clutched at her chest, feeling close to getting a heart attack. 

Ginny exited the corridor that had a secret entrance into the dungeons and ran up to Minerva, who closed her into her arms.

At the same time Mileta also flung herself onto Viktor's neck.

"Oh, Ginny… you're here, you've come to save us!" Minerva sobbed. "And you too, Mr. Creevey!"

Ginny looked over the shoulder of Minerva and saw Hermione standing up from a cot – she looked terribly pale and seemed barely able to stand upright.

"Hermione!" Ginny stepped to her, gathering her into an embrace. "Oh, Hermione…" tears started flowing down her cheeks. "Thanks God you're all right! But… Herm… Harry… Harry's dead…He has been killed… by that Anor or who." Ginny sniffed. 

"Yes, I know. We saw him collapse into the snow." Hermione sniffed. "Oh, poor Harry… I don't understand why they had to kill him. Wasn't taking his magic powers enough for them?…"

"What?" Ginny gasped. "They took his powers? How?"

"That Tatyana…" Hermione sighed. "Implemented a very cruel charm on him… she deprived him of his powers to wake up her evil lover from an eternal sleep. She took his powers by…" her voice trailed off.

"By what?" Ginny asked.

"It's… it's not the right moment to tell you, I guess." Hermione shook her head, but Ginny was resolute.

"By what?" she repeated her question.

"By… making him sleep with her."

"So… that's why she did it!" Ginny shouted with trembling lips. "I'm going to take revenge for his death! I'm going to kill that guy… or that… that… Tatyana!"

"No, my friend. Tatyana's mine! I'm going to kill her!" Hermione replied.

"Kill her, Granger?" Draco's mocking voice came from behind her. "You don't look strong enough to walk, let alone kill!"

"Malfoy?!?" she crossed her arms. "What are you doing here?"

"Well… let's say I'm keeping an eye on my debtor." he glanced at Ginny.

"I'm not in your debt anymore, Malfoy!" she retorted. "We haven't found Harry and we never will!"

"What debt? What are you talking about?" Hermione looked from one to the other, confused.

"Long story." Ginny sighed. "I'll tell you later. Now we've got to get you out of here."

"And what about the others? The students? The teachers?" Minerva interjected.

"We'll see to that later." Malfoy said. "First we want to know that you're safe. Go back the way we've come in." he pointed at the secret door that stood ajar.

"No way! I'm helping you rescue the others!" Hermione protested.

"You shouldn't. I suggest you walk back to the sled." Ginny said.

"The sled?" Aberforth's face lit up. "You've come here on the sled? But… who drove it?"

"Your assistant, Piotr." Mileta said, pointing at the old man, who was standing at the background, not getting involved in the hugging.

"My… _assistant_?" Aberforth raised an eyebrow. "The name of my assistant who takes care of my reindeers is really Piotr, but it's definitely not him. I have never seen this man before."

"NEVER???" Draco gasped. "But he said he _was_ your assistant!"

"He lied, then." Dumbledore shrugged, turning to Piotr. "Who are you, old man?"

"_Old_?" Piotr's voice sounded amused. "That's a bit rich, coming from you. You aren't twenty yourself."

"It's not about age…" Aberforth said, then noticed Aaron standing behind 'Piotr'. "You!" he shouted. "You… damned…"

"No!" Malfoy stood between Aaron and Dumbledore, before the latter could stifle the former. "He's not the guy who kidnapped you all. He's the twin of that guy and he's on our side."

"Is he?" Aberforth gave Aaron a rather dubious look.

"Shh!" Guillaume suddenly sent up red sparks.

"What?" everyone asked.

"Someone's coming." he said. "Don't you hear?"

As they all fell silent, they heard footsteps coming from outside. Rather heavy footsteps…

Suddenly the door opened and Madame Maxime entered, closing the door behind herself.

"Olympe!" Krum, Hermione, Minerva and Aberforth jumped up from the benches they had been sitting on.

"I - 'ave - brought - you - food." the half-giantess said, her voice devoid of any kind of emotion. Even her face seemed to be strange – it was somehow… stony. She wasn't blinking – her face resembled that of someone who had been petrified, with the exception that her mouth could move. 

"We've got to find the others, Olympe!" Krum said, grabbing her hand. He was thoroughly surprised when she simply flung her enormous arm, making him fly through the room and bump into the opposite wall.

That was when her eyes fell on the open secret door that they didn't have time to lock before she entered. "What – iz – zis?" she raised a huge, finely shaped eyebrow.

"This… er… looks like a door." Aberforth shrugged. 

"Someone – 'as – opened – a secret - passage." Olympe said. "Our – master – 'as – to – know – and – I – must – see – to – zat – zat – you – do – not – escape." she raised her wand, but wasn't quick enough.

"_Stupefy_!" someone shouted from a corner – that seemed to be empty.

Madame Maxime fell onto the ground, unconscious.

"Whew, good that you have brought this cloak, old man." Draco smiled at Piotr as he, the champions, Ginny and Aaron disentangled themselves from the cloak. "Who knows, you could even prove to be useful, after all."

"I never knew that Harry's cloak could hide so many people at once." Ginny sighed. "I really never knew."

"Hey, no time to go all mushy on a cloak just because it belonged to your late hubby." Draco said, grabbing the unconscious Maxime's wand, handing it to Krum. "We've got to free the others."

"But… what 'appened to 'er?" Guillaumed asked, pointing at his headmistress. "She wasn't behaving nohrmal."

"I think she must have been bewitched. By _Imperio_ or something." Hermione said.

"We've got to get out of here." Draco said, pointing his wand at the door. "_Alohomora_!"

They all exited the cell. The corridor was deserted. 

"Which way now?" Ginny turned to Aaron.

"Upstairs."

* * * * *

Hermione had been given a strengthening charm by Krum, so that she could not only walk but run as well if needed. However, they didn't need to run at all for quite a long time. 

They were climbing stairs, walking down corridors, but they didn't meet anyone for a while. Although they carefully looked around on every corner and walked with their eyes and ears open to notice anything suspicious, they couldn't help losing their caution from time to time, since their attention was again and again engaged by the beauty of Azgard. The whole castle seemed to have been made of ice, still it wasn't cold at all. Aaron explained that the walls had been imbued with a very old magic that kept warmth inside the building, but made the walls resistant to melting. Even the chandeliers were made of ice – and they never melted, in spite of the hundreds of lit candles on them.

The floor of the corridors was also pure ice, reflecting their figures like a polished mirror, but it wasn't slippery at all, and had pretty patterns in it, making it look like tile floor. 

Dennis wished he had brought his brother's camera to be able to take photos of this place.

Guillaume had to admit that Beauxbatons – however elegant it was – couldn't even hold a candle to this marvellous building.

Wherever the members of the small group looked, they saw ice, snow and ice again. They were appalled to see how many ways ice could be used: long blocks of ice could serve as banisters and pillars, very thin pieces of ice could function as window-panes, and snowflakes – if arranged in the proper pattern – could make the most charming curtains ever. Ginny was awed by the sight and kept touching things to see whether they were just illusions. She grabbed a curtain, felt how silky it was, but it did not melt in her hands. "Incredible!" she whispered. "You've got to teach me the charm to make snow become cloth, Aaron."

"First wait to see whether we can leave this castle alive." Draco remarked as they turned left on a corner.

"Oh, shut…" Ginny began, when Malfoy suddenly pressed his index-finger to his mouth.

"What?" Hermione whispered, peering over Malfoy's shoulder.

There were three people pacing the corridor – they were students: Malcolm Baddock and Eleanor Branstone from Hogwarts, along with a Durmstrang student.

"But they're our people!" Dennis reasoned.

"They might be, but we thought the same about Olympe." Aberforth replied. "These people might also be bewitched… I think they are. Look at their faces!"  

"Glassy eyes, expressionless features… you're right." McGonagall nodded.

"Minerva!" Dumbledore beamed. "This was the first time you've agreed with me on something! When we get back to Durmstrang, we've got to celebrate it!"

"Oh, hold your tongue!" the elderly witch scowled at him.

"What do we do now?" Ginny asked. "Attack them?"

"Well… I think we should stu…" Draco began, but couldn't finish the sentence, because Guillaume had accidentally walked into an ice-sculpture, knocking it over.

BANG.

Malcolm, Eleanor and the third student looked in the direction of the noise and spotted the sprawling blonde guy.

"The - intruders – are – already - on – the – fifth – floor - the – master – has – to – know." Malcolm said in a monotonous voice, advancing on the French boy who had finally managed to stand up. 

"Malcolm, Eleanor! It's us!" Dennis jumped forward, grabbing the girl's hand.

"Intruders - dangerous. The – master – has – to – know." Eleanor said without blinking.

"Don't you recognise me?" Dennis shook her. "It's me! The guy who likes Star Wars just as much as you do!"

"Intruders – have – to – be – neutralised." Eleanor raised her wand along with her two companions.

"_Stupefy_!" called Ginny, Draco and Krum, making the students black out.

Hermione shook her head in disbelief. "Did your brother bewitch everyone he kidnapped, Aaron?"

"It seems so." he nodded. "He knows a lot about Dark Arts. He knows charms I never knew existed… and he's an extremely powerful wizard. Probably the most powerful I have ever known. There was only another wizard whose powers rivalled his – our father, who was a light wizard. That's why Anor killed him… He really has great powers… It's no wonder that he can control so many people at once."

"This is creepy…" Hermione said, looking contemplative. "And what Malcolm said… '_the intruders are already on the fifth floor'_… he said it as though he had already known that there _were_ intruders… but how?"

"Have you seen Star Trek, Hermione?" Dennis asked.

"That's some kind of sci-fi, isn't it?" she asked.

"Yeah." Dennis nodded. "And there were the Borg in there. A species that functioned as a huge, combined brain. Every member of the collective shared the thoughts of the others. That's how they communicated."

"You… you don't mean that everyone… every bewitched person in this castle already knows about us?" Hermione gasped.

"I hope I'm wrong." the Hogwarts champion sighed. 

"Well, at least we have three more wands." Aberforth pointed out, reaching for Baddock's wand. McGonagall took Eleanor's and Hermione took the wand of the stupefied Durmstrang student.

They set off again.

Soon they arrived at a door that stood half-ajar. Draco and Aaron peered in to see a huge hall that was totally empty – empty, save a small dais with a throne-like chair and one single person sitting in it: professor Zvezda.

"Svetlana!" Guillaume shouted, knocking aside Draco so that he could run into the room.

"Oh, Guillaume!" she cried, jumping up, running in his direction with open arms. "What happened to your face?"

"Tell you later. Oh, Svetlana!" he closed her into his arms. "I thought… I thought zat everyone 'ere… was bewitched. But you're not…"

"No, dear, I'm not." she said with a sweet smile.

"How is that possible?" Hermione frowned as she followed Lochar into the hall. "Why didn't Anor bewitch you, too?"

"How could I know that?" professor Zvezda shrugged, trying to sound nonchalant. However, her face revealed something else. There was fear in her eyes… fear, and a hidden plea – a plea saying _'run, as far away as you can!'_.

"Stop!" Hermione yelled at the others who just entered the hall. "This is a trap! Run!"

"What?" Krum shouted.

"You heard her, a trap!" Piotr said. "Run!"

"_Run? Where_?" a deep voiced echoed throughout the hall. In the meantime about a hundred people materialised around the small group, pointing their wands at them. "Why do you want to leave when you can enjoy my hospitality?" the voice cackled as a black-haired woman appeared next to the throne.

"Tatyana!" Hermione hissed.

"Are you surprised, Weasley?" the Potions teacher smirked. "Oh, Aaron. Nice to see you after 1104 years. You haven't changed a thing."

"Natasha!" Aaron spat. "You filthy, low-down bitch!"

"Hey, watch your tongue, little brother!" a man materialised on the throne. A man with the looks of Aaron.

"Anor. We meet again." he breathed.

"Yes, it seems so." his brother shrugged. "And it was due to a mistake I made."

"You made a mistake by being born!"

"Aaron, Aaron, Aaron…" the evil wizard waved. "Not even eleven centuries have been enough to dampen your temper? No, my dear brother, I made a mistake when I only froze you. I should have simply killed you with _Avada Kedavra_. I wouldn't be having problems with you again." a diabolic smile spread on his otherwise handsome face. "But then again… if I had killed you, you haven't been able to bring me another five servants." he pointed at the three champions and Ginny and Draco.

"Servants?" Aaron frowned. "Why, Anor? Why did you kidnap all these people? What do you intend to do with them?"

"What? I'm planning to gain power over the whole wizarding world, little brother. And my obedient servants will help me. You know, my dear Natasha told me about the events of last eleven centuries… I have been told about all dark wizards: Slytherin, Grindelwald, Voldemort… the latter was quite talented, I have to admit it. He could have been great, you know… but he didn't know how to control people properly. His servants, those… er, what are they called…?"

"Death-eaters." Draco growled.

"Yes, death-eaters." Anor nodded. "So, his death-eaters were not all faithful. They were not obedient. Many of them betrayed him, because he didn't know the charm that I know… he didn't know the charm with which you can control huge crowds of people… mould them into a single being… a single being that serves you. Only you."

Hermione looked around at the hundred of kidnapped people pointing their wands at them. "So that's why you kidnapped them." she said. "But I still don't understand something… why didn't you make me, Viktor, Minerva and Aberforth also become your servants? Why shut us into a separate cell?"

"Oh, let me answer this question instead of my beloved Anor." Tatyana spoke up. "I asked him not to mould you into the collective. I wanted you to stay the way you were… call me a psychopath, but I wanted to see you suffer. To see you go crazy in that cell…"

"But… why the four of us?" Hermione asked. "I thought you only hated _me_."

"That's true, Weasley, you're the only one I hated because you kept thwarting me... Still… I found the relationship of the old man and the old wench rather… interesting." she pointed at Minerva and Aberforth. "I wanted to see them drive each other crazy… and I wanted Krum be together with you… because I knew how much he loved you. I wanted to see him suffer, seeing that you slowly wither away…" 

"You're really a psychopath!" Ginny shouted.

"I haven't seen you before." Tatyana smiled sweetly. "Red hair… you must be Harry's little wife."

"His _widow_, you mean." Ginny's eyes threw fire-bolts at the other woman. "His widow, thanks to you!"

Tatyana knitted her black eyebrows. "I don't know what you are talking about."

"No?" Ginny bellowed. "Then ask him!" she pointed at Anor. "He killed my husband!"

Anor rose from his throne-like chair with clear interest on his face. "What a spirit she has!" he murmured admiringly, slowly descending the steps of the dais. His servants politely gave way to him so that he could walk up to Ginny.

"What a spirit!" he repeated, reaching out to cup Ginny's face. She recoiled, her eyes full of hatred.

Anor gave a side-glance to Aaron. "Cute little thing, isn't she? And remarkable, how much she resembles your wife, Desideria."

Aaron looked away.

"Oh, I have touched a delicate point, haven't I?" Anor cackled. "Don't tell me, brother, that you haven't noticed the resemblance…" he reached out for Ginny again.

"Leave her alone!" a furious voice spoke up. To Ginny's surprise it wasn't Draco - not even Krum or Aberforth.

It was Piotr.

"Oh, I haven't even noticed you here." Anor gave him a belittling smile, taking a step in Ginny's direction. Now their faces were only inches apart. Ginny felt his hot breath on her cheek and saw burning desire in his eyes.

However, the old man must have seen the same, because he stepped to them and pushed Anor's hands away – with quite remarkable power for such an old person.

"Jealous, are you?" Anor gave him a malicious smirk.

"Leave – her – alone!" Piotr shouted, his voice unusually high in volume. "Don't you dare touch her, you filthy scumbag!" Ginny, hearing the voice, looked at the old man with an incredulous expression.

"Why, what will you do if I touch her?" Anor raised an eyebrow. "You cannot prevent it… not anymore. She is mine, if I want so."

The old man lunged at him with a fury never seen before. He knocked the wand out of the evil wizard's hand and knocked him over, his fists falling thick and fast on him. Anor, however, didn't hesitate to act - he threw Piotr off himself and grabbed his wand to strike down at him, when Ginny suddenly flung herself on Anor's neck, sticking her mouth to his.

The onlookers didn't believe their eyes. Draco's hands clenched into fists, Hermione gasped, and Tatyana went as white as a sheet.

"That's more like it." Anor smiled at Ginny when the kiss ended. "See what she did for you?" he looked down at Piotr who was sitting on the floor, cradling a bruised arm. "She kissed me, just to prevent me from killing you… because she finally realised who you are."

"Who?" Hermione frowned.

Anor gave her a gentle smile. "You are all so enchantingly blind." he raised his wand at the old man. "So blind that you don't even recognise your own friend when he's standing next to you." with that, he flipped his wand, making Piotr's hood fell back, revealing his face. His wrinkly face… and a thin, lightning-shaped scar on his forehead.

**A/N2**: notes to:

- _Bucky:_ you once said that I could no more surprise you – now you can shout 'you didn't surprise me, you didn't surprise me!' I guess there are very few who weren't surprised by the ending of this chapter :)

- _Aimee:_ your suspicion was right, congrats

- _blaubaerin_: you wrote in a mail that the names Piotr and Potter sounded very similar – it was deliberate, of course, I wondered who'd notice the resemblance, but obviously only you did :)

So, 300 points to Ravenclaw – 100 points each – because you three MUST BE Ravenclaws if you're so clever :))


	33. Cliffhanger

A/N: First of all – a note to all American readers: the day before yesterday I also _remembered,_ though I'm not American. I felt with you and my heart clenched when I recalled 9/11 of last year – I clearly remember that day: I had just come home from school to see my mum sitting in front of the TV, her face tear-soaked, and I asked: "what happened?" I barely could believe when she told me, and I was crying when I watched the events on CNN. So, on Wednesday my heart was with you again. May God never let such a thing happen in the future! 

I wanted to update yesterday, but ffnet still wasn't working (surely because of all the changes that have been made on the site). Oh, well, I'm updating now – and feeling a bit funny about updating on Friday the 13th… is Friday 13th supposed to be an unfortunate day in your countries as well? In Hungary we have a superstition that this day is unfortunate, but the only time it was unfortunate for me was about 10 years ago when I got a bad mark in maths on Friday 13th… Probably Trelawney would say not to update today because the Grim will come, but to hell with that stupid old fraud! :)) 

And now, the usual reply-section: 

_Dauphin_: I might be sadistic, I don't know :)

_Alexander Pheonix_: writing 'great chapter' is just enough, don't worry :)

_Lupin's Angel_: I almost won the 'best-death-of-Harry-Potter-award'? You can still give me the 'best-almost-killing-off-Harry-Potter-but-making-him-return-later'-award :)

_Arif:_ your penis theory WILL be proved wrong :))

_princesswitch:_ what is 'aafo'?

_Melinda Malfoy: _you are right, Ron and the twins are indeed behaving like 16-year-olds, but IMHO Hermione and Harry aren't. Tell me if I'm wrong. Lucius Malfoy is indeed rather idiotic, but he has his reasons. Not revealing them right now. You said that Ginny was 2D. I agree. The problem is that Rowling never told us much about her character – all we know about her is that she always blushes in front of Harry and that she's gullible. It was rather hard to write a developed Ginny-character after this – sorry if I didn't succeed, I tried. Perhaps in chapter 34 she'll seem less 2D.

_MauiGoddess3:_ you don't want Herm to get together with Ron in the real books? Why? You asked what college I went to – I'm going to the Budapest Economy College, Foreign Trade Faculty and I'm studying international communications and Public Relations.

_GinnyPotter387_: I'm glad you liked the title for the last chapter!

_Elfangor19:_ okaaaay… 100 points to Gryffindor (I'm a very lenient Hogwarts professor :)

_Notebook Girl_: 7 chapters together with this one. I'll post the next fic when it's ready, but only 18 chapters are written and at least another 10 will be added before it ends. However this third fic is already longer than TGSoHH (more pages with very long chapters).

_Myr Halcyon_: I didn't think that the line 'Beauxbatons couldn't hold a candle to it' was a pun. There was no pun intended, but if you regarded it as one, then it IS one. 

_jennaration_: nice to see you again, I thought that you had forgotten about me! :)

_2Coolio_: I'm glad that I can still trick you.

_Black Ice_: yes, I'm at home already, school starts on 16th September (*sobs*, in three days!). Updates will come once in a week, I guess.

_X-Tow-Naga_: however interesting the theory of the Borg is, there won't be any time-travel in this fic, nor in any other fic of mine. I simply find time-travel way too confusing. In Hungary we haven only seen about the half of the Star Trek Voyager episodes. Has the crew of Voyager got back to Earth at last?

_jona:_ aha, so you remembered the sled! Not many people did!

_Jeanine23Dr_: no, in Hungarian schools children don't use uniforms. When I was in the primary school we had to wear some kind of a cloak to protect our clothes but we 'rebelled' against it, so from the 5th class we were 'exempted' from having to wear them. Nowadays only the smallest pupils wear such cloaks, all others are free to wear whatever they want.

_Sapphire Selia_: yes, there are still things coming that can be guessed if you read the story in a very detailed sort of way. I keep doing this: giving little hints about things that seem to be unimportant but turn out to be important later. Read my answer to Black Ice. As for the third fic – I'm going to space the chapters out as always. The rest of the chapters for this fic are also written, though I'm still making small changes to them.

_Lavendar Brown_: you said that the Aaron you liked wasn't the one in my story. Um… do you have a boyfriend called Aaron?

_K.C. Hunter:_ the Lucius Malfoy pic is… creepy. I didn't imagine Lucius having such long hair!

_Kit Cloudkicker_: I get the impression that you didn't read the last line of the last chapter. Had you read it carefully, you'd KNOW that Harry's not dead.

_blaubaerin_: the reason why I named a cow Dolly is that in 'Anne of Green Gables' there was a cow named Dolly. So, it had nothing to do with the cloned sheep. I haven't seen Life is beautiful – is that the movie with Roberto Benigni? The only movie in which I've seen him in is Asterix and Obelix versus Caesar in which he played a stupid Roman soldier. The fisherman thingie had nothing to do with Jesus. Yes, hubby is a nickname for husband.

_the_girl_who_lived_: I hope your mum is feeling better now.

_Crazycutee831_: why did Harry lie to everyone? He'll tell in the next chapter.

_Moony Lover_: thanks for wishing May the Force be with You all the time! :))

_Kristen Michelle_: I'm glad you're back, I was missing you.

_Tifanee Weasley_: Harry wasn't aged by an Aging Potion but by an evil curse.

_kwok:_ truth be told I know nothing about Yin and Yang. So the 'Harry losing his powers thing' has nothing to do with it. He didn't grow old because he lost his powers, but because he had been cursed by Anor. Read this chapter, Anor will tell you about it.

Also thanks to: _Cressida, Ksiezniczka, TaMaraR, Saphron, VeRyWiLdWiTcH, Padfoot, Kamatazi Yumi, twinkle-toes, Katie Bell, Lady Python, spangle*star, goldenstar555, starheart, Whit2005, Princess Ginny, MidniteSunrise, Jessica, star queen, aurora riddle, caroline, Aimee, rebkos, AmandaPanda, zzxm, Hermione Weasley, Nefertiri, Lana Riddle, Cassandra Anthemyst, C-chan, LilGinny, NightmareSweety_

I bet you haven't read a chapter with the following title (and this time is does not refer to its ending)…

Chapter 33 Cliff-hanger 

"Harry…" Hermione breathed, turning chalk-white. She cast a side-glance at Ginny, who was eyeing Harry with an unreadable expression.

"Potter!" Draco gasped.

"Potter?" McGonagall clutched at her heart.

"Yes." the 'old man' replied, standing up. "It's me."

"But how… why are you…?" Mileta began.

"…so old?" Harry finished the question. "Ask him!" he pointed at Anor.

"What did you do to Harry?" Aberforth demanded.

"Aged him a bit, don't you see?" Anor raised an eyebrow.

"But why, for heaven's sake?" McGonagall said.

"Because I wanted to punish him." Anor replied. "He slept with my mistress, after all."

"Just because your mistress deceived him!" Hermione burst out. "Harry didn't know what he was doing at all! That woman bewitched him!" she pointed at the Potions teacher.

"I had to." Tatyana said coolly. "Otherwise he wouldn't have slept with me."

"Do you hear that?" Ginny shouted after having recovered her voice. "He did not want that whore of yours! Still, you punished him! Put him right again!"

"Put - him - right?" Anor cackled. "My sweet, that's impossible! This is an irreversible charm! He is going to stay that way forever! Oh, did I say _forever_?" his mouth tucked into a devilish smirk. "Forever…? Hah… he is so old that he will live for another two or three months, at most."

"All right." Ginny straightened herself. "Name a price. Whatever. Tell me what I have to do to keep him alive and I'll do it!"

The evil wizard stepped to her, cupping her face. "That's charming. Absolutely charming. There's nothing as charming as a woman in love… a woman who would do anything for the man she loves…" he cast a side-glance at Tatyana. "However, there's no guarantee at all that the woman gets what she wants… No guarantee at all, not ever for my Natasha."

Tatyana descended the stairs of the throne with a pale complexion. "What do you mean, Anor?"

"I meant, dear, that no matter how big your sacrifice for me was, I don't need you anymore. Not as a wife, not as a lover, not even as a servant. You did for me what you could, and that's the end of your career. I would have kept you as a lover, had I not met a new candidate for your post, sweetheart." with that he reached out and pulled Ginny to himself.

"No!" shouted Harry and Tatyana in unison.

"Yes." replied Anor. "The read-head is mine."

"No way!" Ginny pushed him back with such a force that he almost fell. "Harry." she closed her husband into her arms.

"What a lovely scene." Anor clapped. "Wonderful. You know what, my sweet? I'll be merciful. I will help your husband live for years and years… but he will stay here and witness as you sit on my right… as my lover."

"I'd rather die!" Harry shouted.

"Really?" Anor raised an eyebrow. "So be it…" he raised his wand at 'the old man' and ejected a white stream of light that – surprisingly – never hit Harry. It met with another jet of light in mid-air and deviated from its original track… zooming right in McGonagall's direction. Before it could hit Minerva, Aberforth jumped before her, receiving the curse instead of her.

"Aberforth!" McGonagall shrieked, dropping to her knees next to Dumbledore.

The rest of the crowd, however, did not pay attention to them – everyone's eyes were fixed on one of the doors and the five figures who just had entered.

"Ron!" Hermione shouted to her husband, who had shot the curse that hit Anor's.

"Father!" Draco and Ginny yelled.

In the next minute all hell broke loose. Arthur Weasley and Lucius Malfoy shot stunners at the nearest people, while Ron, George and Fred covered them. The newcomers caused such an upheaval that gave an opportunity for Aaron, Hermione, Krum, Ginny, Draco, Dennis, Mileta and Guillaume to act. They raised their wands that they had still been clutching and started stunning everyone around themselves.

Anor's servants, however, were still acting like a huge, combined mind – when any of them noticed a spell coming from any direction, all the others knew about it at once, so the one closest to the originator of the spell could prevent it from hitting anyone.

Soon the newcomers also realised that something was thoroughly amiss with their enemy. 

"Father!" Draco yelled as a Beauxbatons student ejected a curse at Lucius. 

Lucius stepped aside. "Draco! What happened to these people?" he shouted over the crowd.

"They are bewitched so they can move and think as one entity!" his son yelled back.

"Aha! I know that one!" Lucius shouted, sending a stunner at Natalie McDonald who was about to do away with Arthur Weasley.

"Hey, thanks, Malfoy!" 

"You're welcome, Weasley!" 

Fred got cornered by professor Ivanovich, the Durmstrang Charms professor. George cursed Ivanovich from behind, causing five Durmstrang students to jump upon him and professor Ivanovich at once. "_Wingaridum Leviosa_!" Fred shouted at the five students, lifting them up into the air, making them fall right down on four others who were just about to neutralise Ginny.

"Thanks, Fred!" she waved at him, kicking Stahanov, the Durmstrang caretaker in the stomach.

"Wow, Gin! Just like the karate-kid!" Dennis shouted a second before two Beauxbatons students stunned him from behind. Guillaume tripped over Dennis' prone form, falling right on him, his wand sliding out of his hand. Mileta snatched up the fallen wand and, with one wand at each hand, she sent jelly-leg jinxes at two of her classmates.

"If you know this charm, Father, why don't you do something?" Draco shouted at Lucius.

"I'm trying to remember the incantation!" Malfoy Sr. growled.

"Hermione, watch out!" Ron yelped as Graham Pritchard pointed his wand at her. Hermione ducked behind a pillar just in time and saw a vicious Durmstrang student run in Ginny's direction, wand upheld. Hermione was just about to stun him when a leg appeared from behind another pillar, tripping the student.

"Well done, Harry!" she shouted at him.

"Well done?" Anor shrieked, pointing his wand at Harry, who again ducked behind the column, making the curse ricochet off it, hitting and exploding a nearby ice-sculpture.

"Oh! Got it!" Lucius yelled suddenly, pointing his wand at the crowd. "_Finita unio cerebrum_!" 

It was like as if a bomb had gone off in the hall. A bomb… of silence.

Suddenly all the noise died away, and hundred wands fell onto the icy floor.

The mind-connection had been broken and the bewitched students and teachers 'woke up'. They blinked, rubbed their eyes and looked around in awe.

"What 'appened 'ere?" a girl from Beaxbatons was the first to ask.

"You were bewitched… to obey him!" Krum shouted, pointing at Anor, who – in that instant – seemed to have shrunk, somehow. His complexion was deadly pale and his black eyes looked glassy.

In the next instant he vanished.

"Where's he gone?" Draco yelled.

"Escaped!" Ginny screamed.

"And Tat…" Hermione looked around, but she didn't see the Potions professor anywhere. "Where's that woman?"

"They both escaped!" Harry shouted.

"I think I know where my brother is." Aaron said. "Leave him to me." and with that, he also disappeared.

A murmur ran down the hall, rising in volume. No one knew what was to come now – were they in safety from the evil or were their lives still in danger?

"Father, what kind of spell was that?" Draco stepped to Lucius.

"Ah, a very tricky little piece of Dark Art." Malfoy shrugged.

"And how did you know about it?" Arthur demanded.

"Oh, come off it, Weasley, don't start this 'I've caught you, bad death-eater' stuff again!" Lucius grunted. "Just to remind you, I have saved your sorry ass!"

"True. But I still can be curious." Arthur folded his arms.

"Well… let's say that this charm was a self-thought one. I found it in a very old Chinese parchment."  

"Chinese?" Ron gaped. "You can read that stuff?"

"Yeah, I can, since I'm quite well-educated… not like other people..." Malfoy cast a glance at the Weasley twins who were embracing and congratulating each other on having saved one another's lives. "I have always felt attracted to the Chinese wizarding culture… why do you think I named my son Draco?"

"I never knew you were named after a Chinese Fireball, Malfoy." George grinned as he released his twin. "He doesn't even look like a dragon, does he, Fred?"

"Not really…" Fred smirked. "I think he rather resembles a ferret."

"And a bouncing one." George nodded and they both started to laugh.

Ginny heaved a relieved sigh, seeing that Fred and George had reconciled. Dangerous situations really bring out the best or the worst in you, and in the twins' case it seemed to be the best. Maybe they would give each other a second chance, after all…

"Ohhh… look!" she gasped suddenly, pointing at a hunch figure leaning over a prone one: Aberforth and McGonagall. Minerva was holding the old man in her arms, her face soaked with tears.

"Is he… dead?" Harry asked, his voice faltering.

"No… not yet, kid." Aberforth gave him a faint smile. He didn't lose his sense of humour, not even so near to death. Harry – serious the situation might be – felt his lips tuck into a smile. Good old Aberforth… calling him 'kid', when he looked older than him…

"You'll recover." Harry said, kneeling down next to Dumbledore. 

"Thanks… for… your… faith… kid… but I'm going to die… Anor used a… slow-killing curse…" Dumbledore breathed, reaching out with his wrinkled hands to touch Harry's equally wrinkled ones. "You were… a great… friend… and a very good… fisherman."

"Oh, Aberforth!" Harry laughed and cried at once. "You are going to be all right again. You'll recover."

Suddenly another five hundred people flooded into the hall – the rest of the kidnapped Dursmtrang students. They all looked a bit dazed, but their minds were clear again – after Lucius had performed his charm, the mind-link vanished, and not only among the present students. All the others got free from the bind as well.

Harry rose to his feet as fast as he – in his current state - could, seeing the Durmstrang nurse enter and dragged her to Aberforth. "Help him, please!"

The nurse knelt down and examined the old wizard's wounds. "Not much of a chance." she whispered to Harry.

"I know!" Aberforth grinned. "No use… whispering."

"If we could transport him back to Durmstrang, I might be able to heal him with an essence of the Black Edelweiss." the nurse said. 

"Transport him back?" McGonagall blanched. "He cannot even move, let alone apparate!"

"The… sled… Open a window…" Aberforth said, reaching out with a shaking hand, fumbling with his collar. Harry and Minerva watched him, having no idea what he was doing. Finally Dumbledore pulled a chain out of his clothes – a chain with a whistle on it. With the last amount of strength, he tore the chain off his neck and handed it to Harry. "Blow it… Rudolph and the others will come… take me… back… to Durmstrang." 

* * * * *

Anor apparated at the highest tower of Azgard. This tower had been his favourite place in the whole castle – and here was his room… a room full of dark magic artefacts, and even Muggle weapons such as axes, swords and lances arranged neatly on the walls.

Anor ran to a trunk and started throwing things into it, grabbing vials of potions and crystal balls from the shelves, stuffing them all into the trunk. 

"Going somewhere, my dear?" a female voice spoke up behind him.

"Oh… Natasha…" he breathed. "My love…"

"Your… _what_, exactly?" she raised an eyebrow, pointing her wand at him.

"Now, now, Natie… don't play with me, I don't have time for that."

"You – will – have – time for me!" she shouted. "I had time for you, Anor! I spent the last eleven centuries reincarnating again, again and again… waiting for the time to come… the time when I could awake my one and only love!" she spat the word 'love' with such disgust that Anor cringed. "And what did my love give me in exchange? He told me he didn't need me anymore!"

"Natasha… let's… let's talk about this…"

"We _are_ talking about it!" she bellowed, the wand shaking in her hand. "Tell me, Anor, did you love me? Did you _ever _love me?"

"I… of course I did!" he snapped.

"You did?" her eyes gleamed with fury. "Did you love me when you were dying to get your brother's wife? Did you love me when you were groping that little redhead? Did you love me when you said I was of no use to you anymore? DID YOU???"

"Natasha…" he began. "I didn't mean what I told that redhead… I never meant it…"

"Don't lie to me!" she yelled, advancing on him with outstretched wand, tears coursing down her cheeks.

"I'm not lying." he whispered when they were at arm's length. "I'm not lying." he repeated, his eyes boring into hers.

"No?" she asked in a raspy voice.

"No." he said, reaching out and gently pulling her wand out of her hand. "I love you." he breathed, so quietly that she barely heard it, letting him gather her into his arms. "I love you." with one hand he stroked the back of her head while he pointed his wand at her back with the other. "_Avada Ke_…"

"Stop!" the door of the room banged open to reveal Aaron.

"Aaron!" Tatyana shrieked and jumped back from Anor's embrace.

"_Stupefy_!" Anor shouted, pointing his own wand at his brother, Tatyana's wand at its owner.

The woman fell onto the floor, unconscious, but Aaron shouted _Expelliarmus_ at the same time, snatching the wand out of his brother's right hand.

"That's not fair, little brother." Anor said. "You've got two wands now."

"Then we'll make it fair." Aaron said, dropping his brother's wand. "Now we are even."

"And? Are you going to kill me, or what?" Anor raised an eyebrow. "You are too weak for that, little brother. You could never kill."

* * * * *

Lucius Malfoy stiffened.

"Are you feeling all right, father?" Draco asked, seeing that his father was somewhere else in mind.

"I know where they are." Lucius breathed. "I've… I've got to go there…"

"What?" Draco blinked, but his father didn't pay attention, and in the next instant, disapparated.

* * * * *

Aaron straightened himself. "We'll see, brother."

"Will we?" Anor cackled. "_Crucio_!"

Aaron felt as though his body had been torn apart from inside out, but he wasn't screaming. He wouldn't give his brother the pleasure of seeing him that way. Never.

With great difficulty he raised his wand. "_Locomotor Mortis_!"

Anor equally fell.

"We're even again." his twin breathed. 

"Not for long!" Anor growled, flipping his wand. A sword, that had been hanging on the wall, came zooming down at Aaron. Aaron made a swish with his wand, making the sword stop in mid-air and change direction, zooming right into Tatyana's body.

Aaron blanched, seeing what happened. He only wanted the sword to deviate from its original track, but not to run her through…

"Great… You killed her." Anor sneered. "But don't feel pangs of remorse… she deserved it."

He pointed his wand at his legs, shouting _Finita Incantatem_, so that he could stand up again.

Aaron also rose to his feet, his wand pointing at his brother, but his hand trembling. "God sees my soul, I did not want to kill her… I only want to kill you!"

"You will not kill me. You aren't capable of that. Admit it." Anor smirked, setting three axes into motion.

Aaron easily deflected two of them, making them bang into the walls. The third, however, was still under the control of his brother, and came down at him, hitting the wand out of his hand, even injuring his fingers. When he cried out in pain and pressed his left hand on his injured and badly bleeding right one, Anor didn't hesitate. With a flick of his wand he made Aaron's body rise into the air and bang into the ceiling, then let it fall again.

"This hurts, doesn't it? You like flying, don't you?" he cackled, hearing his brother wince. "What about a bit more flying?" he directed his brother's body to soar out onto the balcony and hover right above the banister. Anor kept flipping with his wand, making Aaron 'dance' above the depth. "And now… no matter how much my heart aches… we need to say goodbye to each other, dear brother."

Anor made a downwards move with his wand, releasing the magical grip on Aaron's body. Aaron fell over the banister, but caught one of its bars with his hands.

"A little hard to get rid of you, isn't it?" Anor smirked, looking down at his brother. "Hmmm… I always loved cliff-hanger situations. Don't you?…" a dreamy expression fell over his face as he looked up to gaze at the horizon. The first rays of the rising sun painted the inky darkness of the sky with streaks of aquamarine and magenta. "Our father… always favoured you. You were the apple of his eye… his little Aaron… the clever, generous boy… He never loved me… criticised everything on me… even the boots that I wore… What do you think, Aaron, what are my boots like?" he placed his right foot on his brother's left hand. Seeing Aaron's face contort in pain, he lifted his foot and continued: "So, you don't like my boots either? Do they hurt?" he stomped with his left foot on his brother's right - already injured - hand. "You know that when I lift my foot you are going to fall? You know it, don't you?"

"You wish…" a faint voice said from behind and Anor felt his wand snatched out of his hand, his body soaring up into the air, and all he could do was scream as he fell into the depth of the Barents Sea below.

Lucius Malfoy burst into the tower-room to see a deadly pale Tatyana sitting on the floor, holding a wand in her outstretched hand.

"Revenge." she breathed and collapsed again.

"Help!" Aaron shouted, now gripping the bar only with his left hand – but he only had seconds, for his fingers got slippery with sweat and started to slid off the bar. 

Lucius flicked his wand, lifting Aaron back onto the balcony. "All right?"

"Yeah." the black-bearded man nodded, leaning onto the banister, gazing down into the depth with tears brimming his eyes. "You were right… I couldn't kill you." he whispered into the abyss. "Goodbye, brother."

"You seem to need medical care." Mr Malfoy said. "Can you walk down? I think that the Durmstrang nurse could help. She's down there, already attending the wounded. I'll see what I can do for this woman… though there might be nothing I can do anymore."

"All right." Aaron nodded. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Lucius said, watching the man leave. *Malfoy, Malfoy, you're getting weak… saving everyone… yuck!*

_'This is necessary weakness, Lucius.'_

He bent down to examine the woman who was lying in a puddle of blood, still holding the wand in her hand.

* * * * *

When Aaron reached down into the hall, he saw dozens of people lying on the floor, other people stuffing robes under their heads or helping them drink.

"Aaron!" Mileta ran up to him. "Where's your brother?"

"Dead." he replied.

"And professor Fiodrovna?" came Madame Maxime's voice. She looked quite exhausted.

"Dying or dead already." Aaron replied with a pang or remorse. He had never liked Natasha, but never wanted to see her dead. "She has been lethally injured by a sword."

"We are going back to Durmstrang." Draco cut in. "Aberforth Dumbledore is dying… according to the nurse he could stand a very small chance to survive if he could be attended at the Durmstrang infirmary… but I don't think he'll survive. Potter has already called the reindeers, you know he speaks their language or what… they packed Aberforth on the sleigh with Ginny and McGonagall. They departed minutes ago."

"We are apparating to St. Petersburg, right?" Arthur Weasley asked. The Weasleys and the Malfoys had left the school through the floo network to _The Dancing Bear_ and apparated from St. Petersburg to Azgard. A shame that apparating was so difficult around Durmstrang… 

"No." Draco shook his head. "We are going to ride the dragon. It's much less exhausting than apparating to St. Petersburg and going by floo back to the school… and much less time-consuming."

"What dragon?"

"Vladi." Mileta replied. "My brother and professor Ivanovich are just making small amendments on him."

"Amendments?" Arthur raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"You'll see." she replied with a smile.

"And where are Ron and Hermione?" Draco asked.

"Freeing the house-elves, I suppose." Mileta replied. "You know, the elves had also been kidnapped."

"Hermione…" Ron said as they walked downstairs, searching for the kitchen where they supposedly would find the abducted elves. "I… I'm sorry about my behaviour when we parted. I was so stupid."

"Yes, you were." she nodded, not even looking at him.

"I know that you never cheated on me with Krum."

"Glad to hear." she said coldly.

"Herm…" he stopped her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Forgive me, please. I know I don't deserve it…"

"That's right, you don't deserve it." she replied.

"But everyone deserves a second chance… if even Snape did, then I also do, don't you think?"

She gave him a small smile. "You deserve a probation. After that I'll decide about us."

"How long a probation?" he smirked.

"Let's see… one year…?"

"What?" his eyes widened. "That's unfair! Way too long!"

"Half a year, then." she said.

"By the end of it our child will be born." he pointed out.

She gasped. "How do you know?"

"Er…" he turned ruby-red. "All right, one year."

"Why? What did you do that you think you deserve to _suffer_ for a whole year, Ronald Weasley???" 

"I… read your diary."

**A/N2**: Latin explanation: finita unio cerebrum = to finish the mind-union (it might not be proper, you know that I don't speak Latin, it might be 'unio cerebrum finita', I'm not sure.)

Note to X-Tow-Naga: sorry 'bout the lame action scene, you know that I'm no action writer, but such a scene was necessary.


	34. When you wish upon a fish

A/N: some of you said that my bio was way too short, so I expanded it a bit. To those who didn't understand the title of the previous chapter: _Cliff-hanger_ referred to Aaron hanging from the balcony. 

_aurora riddle_: you asked whether Lucius had feelings. Well, not necessarily… He's a peculiar man, this Lucius, one can never know him enough. Truth be told I don't really remember LotR. It's possible that the tower scene reminded you of it, but it wasn't intentional – I really don't remember the book, neither the movie much. 

_K.C. Hunter_: you wrote: "I'm waiting eagerly to see how you can pull off a fic that sounds like it's going to be largely an OC story." What do you mean by oc? Other character? Anyway, don't worry, about half of the characters will be old, canon characters, only the children will be new.

_Sean Mulligan_: sorry, I haven't had time to read Slytherin rising for months now. I barely have time to read long stories, so I usually just read shorter ones (with a very few exceptions). How can I put the young Dursley into Hufflepuff? Because I know that he'll be a nice and generous boy, not a power-thirsty and nasty one like Dudley had been. About the NC-17 rule… I kind of understand ffnet – it just tries to protect the kids, but IMHO that's a bit silly, because if kids read NC-17, then it's their problem/fault, _they_ shouldn't have been so stupid as to read it and have their innocent little souls corrupted. On the other hand I don't think that ffnet will actually reach its aim by banning NC-17 – many authors will just convert the NC-17 rating into R and keep posting.

_Notebook Girl_: what kind of school play do you play in?

_Lavendar Brown_: how many cop cars had you seen on 13th Friday? Hm… 17?

_Harrysgirl_: no, McGonagall won't start to like Aberforth – she _already_ likes him, but hasn't admitted it to herself yet.

_Indigo Ziona_: I don't think I'm good at deathbed scenes… though there might be one such scene in the third fic…

_Bucky:_ I'm answering only a couple of question of yours: yes, Dan is still a squib, no Lucius doesn't know the counter-curse of Exsugo vium magicae (if there's one counter-curse at all). So, you're a Slytherin? What sorting quiz did you take? The one on Warnerbros's site? Because that's a rather lame one, it kept putting me into Gryffindor, although I tried to answer the questions to become a Slytherin.

_J-Kid:_ I don't remember the Neo and Trinity scene from Matrix, I saw that movie about 2 years ago. All that I remember from that movie is that the woman kind of 'floats' in the air in some fight-scene. 

_Katie Bell_: the dragon (the Durmstrang dragon Vladi) had been kidnapped by Anor just like the people and the house-elves. Happy belated birthday.

_Coolio:_ no, there's not just one chapter left, but six. (is that good news?)

_Lyny_: I don't have the word shame in all the titles, I have the word 'greatest' in all of them.

_Sapphire Selia_: no, I haven't read HP and the twick yet, I'll try to read it later if I can find some time for it. Is it a long fic? And who's the author?

_C-chan_: did you really feel like freezing when Tatyana talked to Anor, and when Ron told Herm about reading her diary? Glad to hear that I can make people shudder :)

_Arif:_ I guess you do have to learn a bit more of German grammar, my friend :)

_Jeanine23Dr:_ the weirdest place ever from where I got a review was… ehm, I don't really know. Perhaps Peru or the Dominican Republic (that's where you live, right?). But also Singapore and India count as exotic places to me and I got reviews from there, too. A shame that I haven't got any from Africa, but I'm not surprised by that – people in Africa usually can't afford a computer, or even if they do, they don't read Harry Potter :(

_Lupin's Angel:_ in the final chapter you'll get to know who Remus' great love is, but don't expect someone so special, because if you do, then you'll be disappointed. She's just an ordinary character who was mentioned by J.K. for a couple of times. Btw, thank you very much for the almost-killing-Harry-award :) It was cute!

_Kamatazi Yumi_: no, Lucius isn't connected to Anor, there's another reason for his peculiar behaviour. Thanks for pointing out my mistake! Btw, it wasn't Harry whom Aberforth saved, but Minerva. Heh, he loves her!

_Melinda Malfoy_: hehe, you were shocked when seeing my favourite stories list? Yeah, I do like NC-17 fics, but not all of them. I never read slash, for example. And half of the NC-17 fics are just mindless porn with totally no plot. Fortunately there are a couple of beautifully-written ones as well – ones that even have a bit of a plot besides just describing sex. I usually review those, too. Pity that ffnet is going to ban them, I'm going to miss them – somehow I need my weekly dose of NC-17 fics :)) Btw, why did you think of me as a saintly innocent girl? I thought I was making the characters in my fics do stuff far from saintly and innocent - even if I don't go into details, I make them have sex quite often… some of the readers even sent me to hell for making Harry impregnate Ginny while still at school or making Harry be such a 'sex-maniac' at the beginning of this story. Oh well, now it seems that I don't have to worry about the rating of my fics (I feared that I might exceed PG-13, but apparently I haven't:) In Harry Potter category I wouldn't write NC-17, but years ago I wrote some NC-17 ones in Star Wars category (those are no more on ffnet, I took them off long ago because I thought that they were stupid and pointless – you know, just sex and no plot :)

_Hermione Weasley:_ I didn't know that reindeer didn't have a plural form, sorry. Is it like sheep – that also hasn't got a plural form, right?

_2Coolio_: perhaps :)

_LilGinny:_ yes, the twins will be born in this fic, though I won't show their birth, just mention their names in the final chapter. Tell me when you upload something and I'll read it, okay?

_One-Winged Butterfly_: I didn't forget you, because you have such a peculiar name that is hard not to remember :) I've been considering to post the fic to fictionalley, but there are some problems: first of all, only such fics are allowed there that have been beated by 'experts' – I mean, my stories have only been betaed by my mum and she couldn't point out my grammar mistakes, thus my stories aren't 'perfect' enough for fictionalley. Secondly: I have no idea how to upload there, it seemed to be rather difficult for me. Thirdly: I have no idea how to have a look at my reviews there – on ffnet it's easy, but whenever I wanted to look at the reviews someone got for his/her fic on schnoogle, I could only view 3 or 4 of them, and only when I also submitted one. Fourthly: fictionalley is full of Harry/Hermione and (God forbid!) Draco/Ginny shippers, who wouldn't be happy about fics with H/G and R/Hr shipping. At least 80% of the authors there are H/Hr and D/G shippers, just think of the most popular story's author, Cassandra Claire. So I feel I just wouldn't fit in there. Perhaps I could still post my fics to gryffindortower where everyone is H/G shipper, but there's another problem with that: in order to have my stories published on that site, one of the current authors (most likely one of the Queens of H/G) has to beta them to see whether they fit the requirements of gryffindortower, but it is clearly stated on that site that the authors available for betaing are extremely busy, so I don't think that my stories would be able to appear there earlier than a year from now. So, I guess, all that remains for me is ffnet – the other ones are out of my reach :(

_MauiGoddess3_: you said that Ron and Herm were too different for each other. I believe that it is exactly what will bring them together. Just think of Han and Leia in Star Wars, you cannot think of two people more different, and they seem to hit it off wonderfully.

_eclectus:_ what kind of dances do you learn? Btw, I haven't read the Anne series, just seen it on TV – I started to read the books but found them so terribly boring that I had to stop. The TV series rocks, though, I've seen it for at least five times.

Also thanks to: _Kit Cloudkicker, Wood's secret lover, Cassandra Anthemyst, AmandaPanda, zzxm, Waldomier, Nefertiri, Super saya Jin-Gotan, PepsiAngel, GinnyPotter387, jennaration, Houou, MidniteSunrise, Saphron, Aimee, Dauphin, starheart, Alexander Pheonix, princess Ginny, Lady Python, star queen, The-Girl-Who-Lived, Blondie in Disguise, princesswitch, Lana Riddle, goldenstar555, apple-pie, jen, PadmeSkywalker, NuttyBuddy, princess Ginny, NightmareSweety_          

Chapter 34 

**When you wish… upon a fish**

Soon the Weasley couple returned, followed by about fifty happily chattering house-elves. What Draco immediately noticed was that Ron had a black eye and Hermione looked rather grouchy.

"Aaron!" Hermione ran up to the black-bearded man, followed by Ron. "What happened to your hand? And your brother?"

"Dead." he replied and recited everything that had happened up in the tower.

"And that woman… also dead? She deserved it!" Hermione said with a satisfied expression.

"C'mon, guys, time to go back to Durmstrang!" Fred stepped to them, followed by George. They seemed to be on good terms again. 

"Hey, Ron, nice black eye." George perceived.

"Yeah, how did you get it?" Fred asked.

"Ran into the fist of an aggressive amazon." Ron growled. "And you two? Since when are you talking to each other again?"

"Since Fred saved my life." George said.

"And since George saved mine." Fred added. "We never really were enemies, were we?"

"Nay." George waved.

"And what about Angelina?" Hermione raised an eyebrow.

The twins shrugged. "No idea. We still have four months before the baby is born. We'll work out something by then."

"One of you should marry her and you should take turns living with her. She wouldn't even notice it." Ron grinned.

"Ronald Weasley!" Hermione gasped. "How could you be so… immoral?"

"Don't bother with her, little brother." Fred grinned at Ron. "Pregnant women are always so tetchy. Angie's also like that."

"But she isn't half as tetchy as Hermione!" Ron pouted.

"Because she's just half as pregnant as I am." she spat.

"What?" Ron blinked.

"A bit dim, isn't he?" Fred pointed at his youngest brother, and George nodded enthusiastically.

"WHAT??? Would someone explain?" Ron growled.

Hermione folded her arms and gave him her usual unbearable know-it-all look, but this time it contained more of despise than usual. "Stupid." she said.

"Really stupid." George snickered.

Ron's head was already as red as his hair. "Would – someone – explain – it – to – me?"

"Twins." Fred said with a grin, placing his hand on Ron's shoulder.

"Huh?" Ron blinked. "You don't mean…" he looked at Hermione, whose eyes twinkled jovially. "Hermione!" he yelled, gathering her into a firm embrace. "Twins? Two babies?"

"Yeah… just don't squeeze me that much… it might hurt them."

"_Them_…?" Ron felt his heart melt and pulled her gently into his arms again.

"You know, little brother…" George spoke up, "You should really hope that you'll have two sons… because two daughters with Hermione's temper… uh-oh…"

"I wouldn't mind having two daughters." Ron grinned at him over his wife's shoulder. "If they would be as smart as their mother…" Hermione pulled back a bit and gave him a radiant smile.

Soon the Weasely brothers, the Malfoys, the teachers, the several hundred students and the fifty house-elves boarded a huge, sled-like thing that Viktor and a couple of his fellow teachers magicked there and attached to Vladimir's body with reigns. The old dragon had been souped up a bit by strengthening charms and looked extremely proud of his sudden importance.

* * * * *__

"How's he?" some hours later at Durmstrang Minerva, Harry and Ginny asked from the nurse who had just exited the infirmary.

"Not well. I have given him the Edelweiss Essence, but it doesn't seem to help a lot. All we can do is pray."

"May… may I go in?" McGonagall asked with a pleading stare. The nurse nodded and she entered.

"Oh, poor Aberforth!" Ginny sighed, turning to Harry – who wasn't there anymore. "Harry?" she looked around. He had just turned right on a corner and vanished from her sight.

* * * * *

Harry was standing by the window of his room, already wearing his glasses to be able to see properly. His hood was pulled up again, as though he hadn't felt safe without it. But the truth was that he felt ashamed without it. He felt ashamed whenever he felt people's eyes on him, knowing what he had been like and what he looked like now. 

He kept looking down at the snowy planes. Vladimir had just arrived with the students who were getting off the sleigh that disappeared as soon as everyone got off.

All the students looked happy, their cheerful yelps could be heard up on the fourth floor and through the closed window as well.

Harry heaved a deep sigh.

These children were happy again… their lives got settled, they were free and careless… not like him.

His life had fallen into pieces and didn't seem to ever be put together again. *Well, maybe there's no need to put it back together…* he thought bitterly. *I'm not going to last long, after all…*

He heard the door creak but didn't bother to turn around. He knew who had come.

"Go away, Ginny. Please." he whispered.

"No." she said, walking up to him and placing her hands on his shoulders. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Why not?"

"Because I want to be with you."

"With me?" he laughed coldly, turning around. "With this guy?" he slipped his hood off his face. "With this wrinkled, old man?"

"Yes." she said. "Because this wrinkled old man is the man I love. The man I believed dead… the man I got back… the man I'm not going to release again."

"Don't be ridiculous, Ginny." he pulled up his hood again, turning away. "What could I give you? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Even Malfoy could give you more than I…"

"Malfoy? What could he give me?"

"His love." Harry replied.

"His what?" she breathed.

"He loves you. Maybe even he does not know it, but he does love you. I've seen it, Gin. He could give you what I cannot."

"But I don't need what he can give me!" she snapped. 

"Are you sure?" his eyes flashed under his hood. It struck Ginny that she hadn't recognised those eyes all along… but no wonder: Harry's eyes weren't brilliant emerald green anymore – they were greyish-green, the eyes of an old man… Still she should have recognised her husband, she fumed in herself. Or at least realise that the old Russian squib was talking in a rather British accent… but no, she was too taken up with her sorrow at Harry's 'death' to notice things like these.

"Are you sure?" he repeated. "He is still a wizard, I'm not. He is young, I'm not. He can give you… children. I cannot. He has everything I don't have."

"And it's still you I love and not him." she answered calmly. "And you know… I'd rather eat a skrewt than to give birth to a Malfoy."

"And what about that time…?"

"What time?" she raised an eyebrow.

"When you almost slept with him."

"I wasn't in my right mind."

"And what was that debt stuff?" he demanded. "You said something to him when we entered the cell… and back when you thought that I was dead, you mentioned something about… _paying_ him. What was that?"

"What do you think it was?" she asked sarcastically. "I asked him to take me to Durmstrang and he named the price."

"I have a good idea what the price was." he whispered. "But… how did you know… that you had to come to Durmstrang?"

"The ring." she said, looking down at her right hand. "You see, one day I noticed that the gem wasn't glowing anymore. I knew that something terrible must have happened to you… and I wanted to come to Durmstrang." she reached out for his hands. "Harry… where's your ring? You promised me that you'd never take it off."

"In one of the drawers, I guess…" he shrugged. "I took it off because you would have recognised me at once, had I been wearing it."

"Why did you _not _want me to recognise you?" she knitted her eyebrows.

"You really need to ask that?" he sighed, diverting his stare. He continued talking to the window-pane: "It was so terrible, Gin... realising that I had no magic left in me… and I still don't know how it happened..."

"But I know." Ginny hung her head. "That Potions teacher took your powers when… when she slept with you. She needed your magic powers to wake up her lover from his eternal sleep."

"Oh." Harry whispered. "Now at least I know why she did that… why I lost my abilities… I just don't remember a thing of it."

"Maybe it's better that way." she replied sternly. "I'm glad that you don't even remember having slept with anyone else but me." 

Harry nodded. "It's something I would never like to remember. But I do remember its consequences… as vividly as though it had happened yesterday! Oh, Gin… it was the greatest shock of my life, losing my powers… flipping my wand madly, and being unable to perform the easiest charms… There's no greater shame for a wizard than to lose his magic powers…" he shook his head. "You have no idea."

"Then tell me so that I know it." she took his right hand into hers.

"So… we were down by the lake when I realised that I couldn't do magic anymore… then came the whirlwind with Anor… he flipped his wand at me, murmured some incantation and I fell. The last thing I saw before I lost my consciousness was that the whirlwind picked up the others. When I awoke, I felt numb… I saw that he had left and taken everyone with himself… leaving me behind. I felt so extremely weak… I somehow stumbled through the snowy field… I saw something glittering in the sunlight… I got curious. It was a mirror that Guillaume had used before the second task… it was lying there, in the snow. I looked into it and saw white beard, wrinkled skin… For minutes I couldn't move. I was rooted to the spot… then I somehow staggered into the castle. Soon the champions came back, and I knew that they mustn't see me. I went into hiding with the help of the invisibility cloak… until Malfoy caught me." he gulped, looking away from his wife. "He… he deserves you more than I do, Gin. I… cheated on you."

"You did not, Harry." she squeezed his hand. "You were never unfaithful to me, I know. But… there's something I still don't understand… why did you lie that your wife and daughter were dead?"

He looked away so that she wouldn't see the tears filling his eyes. "Because… I wanted you to believe me dead. I wanted you to start a new life… I knew that if I wanted you and my children to be happy, I had to set you free…"

"Free? From what?" she gasped, squeezing his hand even tighter.

"From the sense of duty towards a helpless, old man. I did not want to be a burden. I still don't want to be one… so go, Ginny. Leave me. I'm giving you your freedom back. Go and live happily, bring up our children, and… tell them about their father the way he was… the way he had been… I want them to remember me that way."

Tears started flowing down Ginny's cheeks. "No, Harry… please, don't talk like that. Don't send me away… I couldn't live without you."

"You fared quite well without me." he tossed her hands away, looking down at the planes again.

"Yes, because the desire for revenge put heart into me, but now… I couldn't keep going without you." she stepped to the chest of drawers, pulling out the drawers, one after the other, until she found what she was looking for. "I don't care what you look like, Harry Potter. Neither do I care what you are capable of. I don't mind whether you can do magic or not. I love you either way." she caught his right hand and slipped the ring onto it. "I love you, and only death can part us." with that she pulled his face down to hers and placed a kiss on his lips. He wanted to pull away, but she held him in place in a vice-like grip.

The fervour of her kiss made him feel alive – alive after weeks of feeling like dying. He eagerly responded to her kiss, his whole being on fire, as though an electric shock had coursed through him from head to toe. When they parted after several minutes, panting, he felt rather strange - dizzy. He felt that his legs weren't strong enough to bear his weight… the world was spinning around him as though he had been put into a centrifuge… he closed his eyes to stop the spinning and stumbled backwards to lean to the wall. "Death?" he laughed sardonically when he finally opened his eyes. "That's quite close for me, dear. I already feel so funny…"

Ginny, however, didn't even hear his remark - her mouth fell open and her eyes widened. She looked as though she couldn't breath. For a moment Harry thought that his remark had hurt her so much, but then she practically started hyperventilating.

"Ginny?" he stepped to her. "Are you all right?"

"I… I… Harry…" she couldn't take her eyes off his face. "Harry…" she gulped, "…you're… you're…"

"What?" he frowned.

"Come!" she grabbed his hand and dragged him to the wardrobe, opening its door. She pushed him before the mirror on the wardrobe door. "What… do you see?"

Harry's eyes popped in surprise. There he was, seeing his reflection, unable to utter a word. He tentatively reached out to touch the cool glass of the mirror… just to check whether it had been real or not… but it felt real. His reflection also had to be real, then.

His heart wrenched, but not in pain, but in infinite joy. This simple wardrobe-door mirror now functioned as the Mirror of Erised, showing Harry the deepest desire of his heart – his young self.

However… this mirror was not that of Erised, and it did not show only desires – it showed the truth.

He felt his knees buckle, but Ginny caught him and held him upright.

"Is… is this… really… the truth, Gin?" he whispered. "Am I… back to normal?"

"It seems so." she laughed, tears obscuring her vision.

"Then… don't cry, dear. Don't cry." he pulled her into his arms. 

"See… Anor wasn't right… the charm wasn't irreversible." she sniffed, burying her face into his shoulder. "You're healed."

"Your love healed me." he smiled at her, kissing her tears away. "Do you think… that I can…?"

"What?"

"Do magic." he replied with wavering voice. He ran to the chest of drawers and pulled out his well-hidden wand, his hand shaking. "_Lumos_."

He waited for the light, but it refused to come. With a sigh, he lowered his wand, his gaze falling on the ring on his hand. The gem didn't glow. It still wasn't glowing!

"Harry…" she stepped to him, wanting to console him, but he recoiled, no remainder of happiness on his face. 

"I'm still a Muggle… I'm still no one…" he breathed.

"Harry… I love you without magic as well." she replied. "I don't care..."

"But I do!" he shouted. "I do!"

"Pathetic!" she yelled, losing her patience. "Some minutes ago you were old – that was your great problem, then. Now, instead of being happy that you got your youth back, you cry after your magic powers! Think, Harry! Had you got your powers back, and not your youth, what would you do with it? You'd be still so old that you'd die soon! Face the truth, Harry: you can't have both your youth and your powers! Face it! Don't wallow in self-pity while other people are dying… and not in months, but in these very moments!"

"Oh, Aberforth!" he growled, banging his fists into the window-frame. "It's my fault that he's dying now! It should have been me who got hit, not him!

"Enough of this, Harry Potter!" she stamped her foot. 

"_Harry Potter_…" he spat. "I'm not the old Harry Potter anymore."

"That's right!" she nodded, her eyes gleaming with fury. "You're not the Harry I first saw on platform 9 ¾! You're not the Harry I gave myself to in the prefect's bathroom!… You're not the Harry who risked everything to bring me back from death…" her voice faltered. "I don't know this Harry. And I don't even want to get to know him… you're right about Malfoy. He might be the one for me." with that she turned on her heels and left the room. 

"Right!" he shouted after her. "Go and pay him! You found me, after all!" as the door slammed shut, he leant to the window-frame. "…but I wish you had never found me…"

* * * * *

Ron and Hermione were just about to knock on Harry's door when he burst out, carrying a fishing rod.

"Harry, you're young again!" Hermione gasped.

"Wonderful!" Ron clasped his hands. "How did it happen, tell me, mate!"

But Harry seemed not to have heard or seen them, just hurried past them.

"Is he gone crazy?" Ron furrowed his brow.

"I don't know." his wife shook her head. "First Ginny runs past us, now Harry… they must have had a row."

"But why?"

"Well… maybe because of Tatyana…" Hermione shrugged. "That's all I can think of."

* * * * *

He dropped himself down on a rock on the coast of the lake. It was getting dark already, but he didn't care.

The lake's surface wasn't frozen anymore – a warm front must have come a couple of days ago and melted the ice.

Harry, however, had never felt his heart so frozen before. Why? He couldn't explain. When he had seen himself as an old man for the first time, he had been scared, but somehow he managed to get used to the thought of living the rest of his life in that form. Now that he had his youth back, but his magic powers not, he felt more deprived than ever before.

For a mere second he hoped and believed that he might be magic again, and the truth felt like a cold shower. He felt like a child who had received a precious gift, but it was taken away from him a second later. He wanted to cry like a little child, but the tears simply refused to come. He couldn't shed a single tear.

He just gazed at the lake's surface for while, then swished his fishing rod, dropping the hook with the bait into the water.

After a couple of minutes he felt a bit calmer. Aberforth had been right – fishing was really something marvellous. 

The thought of Aberforth's possible death tore at his heart like a dagger. He felt responsible for it. He didn't want to imagine McGonagall's face holding a dead Aberforth in her arms… Harry knew what maybe not even Minerva herself knew: that she loved Albus' crazy old brother.

Harry shook his head. Life was so unfair… and always to the decent people. McGonagall and Dumbledore deserved to be happy together, but now they'd never have the chance…

Suddenly Harry got shaken out of his reveries by something tugging at the fishing line.

He started to spool – it was not difficult, the fish must have been very tiny. And it really was.

What surprised Harry was that it was a goldfish. Not only orange or reddish like the normal goldfish, but it was really gold – its scales and fins sparkled in the light of the moon.

The strangest thing was, that the fish suddenly spoke up: "If you drop me back into the lake, I shall fulfil three wishes of yours."

"Excuse me?" Harry almost dropped the fishing-rod in surprise.

"I said that if you let me back into the water, you may wish three things and I'll fulfil them." the fish repeated it in a rather grouchy tone, rolling its eyes.

Harry had never seen a fish roll its eyes.

"Er… what kind of wishes?" he asked.

"Whatever."

"Anything?"

"Well… almost." the fish replied. "Of course there are a couple or restrictions…"

"What kind of restrictions?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Well… number one: I cannot revive the dead. So don't even ask for your parents back. Number two: you cannot wish for more wishes. Number three: your wish cannot contain the word 'and'."

"Huh? I fear I don't understand number three."

"Are all people this dim?" the fish snapped. "It means that you cannot make a wish like: 'make me extremely rich _and _unbelievably clever as well', neither may you make a wish like: 'make me _and _my best friend become immortal', or…"

"Okay, okay, I understand." Harry cut in. "No 'and' in the wish, all right… really, what would _you _wish for?" 

"What?" the fish snapped. "I would wish to be caught only by sensible people who do not ask such silly questions!"

"And were the other people who have caught you sensible?" Harry grinned, suddenly forgetting about all his sorrows. "Really, how many people have caught you?" 

"Well, let's see…" the fish seemed contemplative for a moment. "Ten, if my memory serves me well… since the day I got into this lake, I have been caught ten times. Usually once in a century. And I always fulfilled the wishes of people who caught me. That's the rule."

"The rule?"

"Ah, come on, don't tell me that you haven't heard of the Code of Magic Goldfish?"

"Sorry, but I haven't." he shrugged. "What does it say?"

"It says: _If you get caught, silly fish,_

_              Ask the fisher for a wish_."

"But you said three wishes!" Harry reminded the fish.

"Oh, yeah, the code has been changed during the millennia, although its motto hasn't. At first we only fulfilled one wish, but then we did three. Okay, out with the first wish, then drop me back into the water! It's pretty cold out here."

"Now wait a minute!" Harry said. "If I drop you back now, then how will you fulfil my second and third wish?"

"Ah, that… don't worry, I'm not going to escape from my duties. I'm going to swim back here this time tomorrow evening and you can make your second wish then. We, poor goldfish are in a magical contract with the Code of Magic Goldfish, so we have to fulfil all three wishes. Don't think that I like this, but that's my job. Okay, go ahead, tell me the first!"

"Can I wish… anything? Really anything? I mean with the exception of those three…?" he asked.

"Sure you can. Ask for great wealth, you'll be richer than all the tsars together. Ask for immense knowledge, you'll be cleverer than Einstein. Ask for immortality, you'll never die. Ask for your lost powers, you'll get them back."

Harry helped the fish off the hook.

"Good… this thing hurt my mouth." the fish said, splashing into the water. "Oh, almost forgot: there's a fourth restriction as well: you may not use family names in your wish. If you want something to happen to someone, call him or her by their given names. I'll know who you are talking about."

"Tell me, who made up all these stupid restrictions?" Harry started to feel a bit irritated.

"They're in the Code and the Great Goldfish made them up at the beginning of times, I guess. You can't imagine how many restrictions there were when the Code was originally written! 98% of them have already been abolished, just these four are left. You're still lucky that there are only these four – imagine what it had been like for the people of the ancient times: they barely could make a wish that didn't fall into any of the restricted categories! All right, enough of my blabbering, what's your first wish?"

Harry stared at the water for a while, resting his chin in his hands. The temptation was great… to be the old Harry again. _The wizard Harry._ However…

"My first wish is…"

**A/N2**: note to GinnyPotter387: did you like this chapter title as well? I thought it'd be funny to re-write 'When you wish upon a star'.

To all readers: sorry if you found the H/G scene way too sappy with love healing and things like that, I just felt that it had to be like that (given that the main genre of the fic is romance). There won't be too much fluff in the upcoming chapters – at least not _this _much.

I bet you didn't remember the legend that Hermione had read in chapter 8 (or 9?) about the magic fish in Durmstrang's lake, but I mentioned it there on purpose :) 

Note that the magic goldfish is a very common thing in Russian (and even Hungarian) fairy tales. I don't know whether you in America and Britain and all other parts of the world have heard/read stories about guys catching wish-fulfilling goldfishes, but they are really frequent in Eastern European fairy tales, so I just thought: why not use them?

You might have noticed that some of the goldfish's restrictions (number one and two) came from Disney's Aladdin – oh, my fave Disney movie! :))  

Now can you guess what Harry's first wish was?


	35. Like fish out of water

A/N: hey, people, have you heard that Rowling is going to have a baby? (Well, I guess that 99% of you knows already – you cannot call yourselves real HP fans if you don't know :)  I'm happy for J.K. – but I'm also worried a bit, I mean lots of things could happen to a woman while she's expecting and giving birth… and even if nothing bad happens, she won't have much time to write when she's taking care of a baby... I'm concerned about the future of our beloved Harry Potter, but I wish all the best to J.K., her hubby and their child-to-be-born. It'd be fun if it was a boy and she'd call him Harry :) 

**Congratulations to** those who have managed to guess the first wish: _Black Ice, Alexander Pheonix, Ronniekin's Sweetheart, AmandaPanda, rebkos, princesswitch, FairyBubbles, Sapphire Selia, Saphron, Kamatazi Yumi, Wood's secret lover, Houou, Dauphin, C-chan, Katie Bell, zzxm, Teri, PadmeSkywalker, Bucky, unknown reader (you forgot to write your name), Ari Potter, LilGinny, pamela-potter-24, X-Tow-Naga, Kristen Michelle, Nefertiri, limbada-the forbidden dance (um, isn't it supposed to lambada?), Myr Halcyon   _

It was kind of funny that most of you managed to find out Harry's first and third wish, but no one even came close to Harry's second one. I guess it will be quite a surprise for you.

_Reala Welana_: about Charlie and Bill's age: in book one we get to know that Charlie graduated 7 years before Harry and Ron started at Hogwarts. Thus, he has to be around 24 at the time of book one. Bill has to be 25-26 at the time of book one, but in book two Ginny says that she wanted to go to Hogwarts ever since Bill started to go there. This is rubbish, given that Ginny is about 15 years younger than Bill, so she wasn't even born when Bill was already at Hogwarts. And now, to the main part of your review: you are right about my lack of characterisation. I should have done more of it, but I was too much concentrating on the plot and if I started to develop characters, then the stories would have been around 60 chapters long. On the other hand, many readers don't like too much describing, and a thorough character-development would have included a lot of descriptions. I also have to admit that I have not much of an idea how to write characters – all I know is how to do a plot. If you have a clear idea about characterisation-techniques, please, write it to me in an email, I could use a lecture on it. You are absolutely right that my Ginny is flat – as flat as a pancake. I only wrote how much she loved Harry, the only role I gave her was to be a support for Harry. The reason is that I simply didn't know what ELSE she should have been. What should she have done to make her be exciting? Give me advice on it, because I have no idea at all. You also wrote that Harry was flat – that I could argue. He might be flat in my story, but then he must be flat in the original books as well – given that he is ALWAYS good. I can't imagine him being bad – and hopefully neither can Rowling (we'll see later whether she'll turn Harry from a little angel into a little monster, but I doubt it). For the way too long names – um… which ones? Mileta Krum is short. Guillaume Lochar isn't that long, either, and his name (if pronounced) even resembles Gilderoy Lockhart's a bit to help the readers remember it. Tatyana is also short, so is Piotr, Anor and Aaron. Anyway, most of the Russian names (Ivan Ilyich, Jevgheniy Anegin, Anna Karenina and even Tatyana) come from the original works of world famous Russian writers such as Leo Tolstoy and Pushkin – I can't help if they gave their characters such hard-to-remember names. Sorry if the story is way too complicated – I'm trying to make the next one a bit less difficult to understand (I can't promise that it won't be complicated, but I promise that at least I'll try). Thanks for the constructive criticism. Your mark B is also right – in Hungary we have marks from 1 to 5 (1 is the worst and 5 is the best), and I guess I'd also give myself a 4. 

_Elfangor19_: why do you hate me?

_Myr Halcyon_: you're right, it's TOTALLY out of character for Harry to wish for his own powers. I loved your version of the 'when you wish upon a star', too pity that fish doesn't have a decent word to rhyme with it :)

_Pamela-potter-24_: I usually update once a week. I'm glad that I almost managed to make you cry:) Hehe, I remember that many people had cried when I 'killed' Ginny in the previous fic, and I'm sure that some will cry when reading a certain chapter of the next fic as well – at least I cried when I wrote it :)

_LilGinny_: I hope your grandpa gets better soon, I'll pray for him. I'm glad that I turned you into a H/G shipper. Yes, I do read H/Hr, too, but I don't like it that much. Everything you wrote about Rowling and book 5 was already known to me, but thanks for writing them, nevertheless :) 

_Lupin's Angel _and _Melinda Malfoy:_ I don't know the Cinderella story with a magic goldfish. You could tell me about it.

_zzxm:_ ffnet decided to ban NC-17, because it is 'harmful' for the little children. (IMHO if little children read the NC-17 fics, then it's their problem, not the author's of the NC-17 fics.) Anyway, with this censorship, ffnet has kind of lost the meaning of its motto: "unleash your imagination and free your soul." The free imagination is restricted, so the motto should be changed to "unleash your imagination, but only from G to R, because we don't let you corrupt the little kids". Stupid. Totally stupid. Oh well, I have joined a yahoo group where I can read lots of NC-17 fics, so I won't miss them on ffnet that much.

_starheart:_ five chapters, together with this one.

_Jeanine23Dr:_ Harry is NOT old anymore. Read the – for you too sappy – H/G scene in the previous chapter again, and you'll see that Harry became young again. About throwing away the food that I don't like – I feel the same as you do. I feel guilty when I throw it away and I also think of all those millions of people who are starving to death. Terrible.

_C-chan_: I didn't really like Bug's life, but I liked Mulan, it was very funny – finally a Disney movie that does something against male-chauvinism! Yeah, 42 is really a good answer – to 'how much is 7x6' :))

_MauiGoddess3: _I don't really feel like drawing Ron, I only draw Harrys :)

_sk8reagle_: the only story I know about the magic goldfish is one in which an old and very poor chap catches the fish, the fish says that it'd fulfil any wish of the old chap if he dropped it back into the lake/sea. The old chap doesn't wish anything, goes home, tells his greedy wife about the fish and the wife freaks out: "Why didn't you wish for anything? Go back and wish for a decent house!" The old guy goes to the fish, tells his wish and by the time he goes home, his wife is waiting for him in a pretty house, but she's still angry: "Why didn't you wish for a palace, you fool?" The old man goes back to the fish, wishes for a palace, but when he goes home, his wife isn't satisfied, tells him to wish for more… and so on and so on, until the fish gets riled up and reverses all the wishes – the old man and his wife get back their ugly little cottage and they'll be poor again. That's the story I know.  But don't worry, Harry's wishes won't be reversed.  

_romina:_ it's Piotr, not Poitr, and you pronounce it as Pyotr.

_waldomier:_ thank you :)

_White Raven:_ you have an interesting name! Harry does love his son the way he is, but obviously he wouldn't leave him that way, would he?

_X-Tow-Naga_: good to see ya again, I've been missing you! Yes, we have already seen many Star Trek Voyager episodes with 7, and I like her. It's cute that the Doctor is in love with her. My personal favourite is the Doctor. Such a character! :) We already have episodes here in Hungary in which Tom and Bellana are already married. If you want to read some really good action scenes, then read 'Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix' by ruskbyte. It's a damn good fic, and the writer is a male, who – as he said – is older than Bill but younger than Dumbledore. I can assure you, that HE can write action. Why can't Harry make all his wishes right there? Well, perhaps the fish needs to replenish its powers after a wish, and it would also spoil the fun of cliffhangers if Harry made all his wishes at once. 

_Kristen Michelle_: thanks for regarding me as the best :) I think you should re-post your fic, I'd like to know who the rapist was. Surely not Neville… 

_Silver Wolf_: I'm glad you think I'm creative :)

**Also thanks to**: _K. C. Hunter, ArtisticNightmare, Alyssa, Rose, writingfreak-14, Padfoot, aurora riddle, star queen, NuttyBuddy, Cassandra Anthemyst, Arif, princess Ginny, PepsiAngel, figgiesblazin, GinnyPotter387, goldenstar555, apple-pie, Lady Schezar, Kit Cloudkicker, Hermione Weasley, The-Girl-Who-Lived, Lady Python, Blondie in Disguise, 'mione weasley, Tessa, jess, spangle*star, Coolio, figgiesblazin, Sean Mulligan  _****

Chapter 35 Like fish out of water 

"Aberforth… do you hear me?" Minerva asked, clutching the old man's right hand. The nurse had been giving him small doses of Edelweiss Essence for the last two hours, but his condition hadn't improved a bit. In fact, it was getting worse and worse.

"Yee-ees." he whispered, very faintly. Life was leaving him.

"Don't… don't die, Aberforth…" tears coursed down McGonagall's face. Suddenly Aberforth's body started to shake madly. She gasped – it must be the end! And she hadn't told him the truth! "Don't die…" she bent her head on his chest. "Don't die… I… I love you."

"I know." Aberforth replied in a much stronger voice, then sit up and caught Minerva's lips in a kiss.

"Uuuuuuuh!" she gasped, her eyes widening. "You old scoundrel! Were you simulating that you were dying? Just to hear me say…"

"…that you love me?" Aberforth gave him a huge grin. "No, Minnie. I was really dying. Truly… My spirit was just about to leave my body and I saw a tunnel full of light appear in front of me, when… I got dragged back! I didn't have time to die because something caught me and pulled me back."

"What?" she clutched at her chest. "Someone dragged you back? But who?"

"No idea. It must have been a miracle." Dumbledore grinned. "Aren't you a bit happy to see me alive?"

"Well, of course, but…" she diverted her eyes, feeling herself blush. Suddenly she felt his hand catch her arm and pull her down to himself. "How dare you…?" she gasped as he kissed her again.

"Will you marry me, Minnie?" he asked as their lips parted.

"Aber…forth…" she mumbled.

"Yes?"

"Oh, yes!" she flung her arms around him and kissed him senseless, just when the nurse entered to give him another dose of medicine.

"Oh!" the nurse turned red. "I never knew that the Edelweiss Essence was so efficacious! I guess I'm not needed here anymore…" she muttered and left the infirmary.

* * * * *

Draco heard a knock on his door. "Coming!" he shouted and opened it to see Ginny Potter standing there.

"Er… hi. What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I've come to pay you." she replied nonchalantly.

"Really?"

"You don't look too enthusiastic..." she perceived. "…which is strange, considering how much you wanted me after the serpent adventure."

"Oh, yeah. Well, come in." he motioned her to enter in a rather awkward way. "Truth be told I wasn't expecting you to come to me… of your own free will."

"We had an agreement, Malfoy, didn't we? You agreed to help me get to Durmstrang and find Harry. I agreed to pay you for it. We did find him. So I'm here to settle the debt." 

"Er, well, yeah… have a seat."

She sat down on the bed.

"I meant a chair." he said, sitting down on a sofa. "Well… do you want to drink something?"

"No, thanks. Let's get it over with so that I can go back to my husband and knock a bit of sense into him."

"Sense?" Draco raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I mean he's being stupid."

"Well, old people tend to turn crazy." he shrugged.

"But he isn't old anymore!" she snapped. "His looks are back to normal but he's still not magic, and keeps whining about it! He simply doesn't understand that I don't give a damn about it! He could be the greatest Muggle on Earth, I'd still love him."

"Um, may I ask how he changed back? Some transfiguration charm, or what?"

"No." she shook her head. "It's something… inexplicable. It… it was love, I guess… my love for him changed him back… you know what that evil guy said… he said that the charm was irreversible, but… I think it was a charm made out of hate. It seems love conquered hate." she lifted her head to meet his glance. "Does it makes sense?"

"Not much." he replied. "I heard Potter's story about losing his powers… So… he's still whining about not being a wizard?" he asked incredulously. "I think I wouldn't be happy myself, if I was deprived of my magic abilities, but with such a woman at my side… he's a git. He should be happy to have you and his youth back. If he still isn't satisfied, then he doesn't deserve you."

"I know. Still…"

"You love him."

"Yeah." she nodded. "Even if he slept with another…"

"It was not his fault." Draco said.

"I know." she hung her head. "But it still leaves a thorn in my heart. A thorn that cannot be removed from there… maybe time will make it shrink, but… it will always be there to prick."

"And that's why you came here. To give _him_ a thorn in return… and do it in a way that he can't accuse you of cheating on him…" Draco pointed out. "You can say that you merely paid a debt… convenient."

Ginny gasped. "Have I opened my soul to you so much… or are you a mind-reader?"

"Neither. I only know women. Some of them are proud. Others are easily hurt. Again others are vindictive. You are all of these together. But there's more to you than just these. You can be quite sensible, you know… and I'm sure you are capable of forgiveness as well… especially when it concerns that dupe of a husband you have. Don't be mad at him… at least not because of that woman. She's dead. Buried. Forget her."

"Who buried her?"

"Father." Draco shrugged. "No one of the Durmstrang people felt like doing it… and that Aaron particularly hated her. So father buried her somewhere in the garden of Azgard."

Ginny chuckled. "I try to imagine the haughty Lucius Malfoy digging a grave."

"Hah! A Malfoy would never even touch a spade! What did you think? He did it with magic, of course!" 

"Oooh… sorry for having presumed something so… _inferior _about a Malfoy!" she grinned. "All right, so… I'll try and forgive Harry… and not only for Tatyana, because he wasn't faulty in that case, but also for being such an idiot. Thanks for your moral support, Draco."

"Hey, the first time you called me Draco!" he smiled at her.

"A slip of the tongue." she smiled back. "So, then, _Malfoy_, what do we do?"

"Well… did I really give you moral support?"

"You did." she nodded.

"Then… I do _have_ _humanity_." he grinned.

"Humanity?" her eyes widened. "Oooooh… yeah. You do." she stood up and walked over to the sofa. "You are an insufferable git, Malfoy, but sometimes you _can _show humanity. Not too often, but you can. Thank you." she kissed him on the cheek and left.

As she entered Harry's room, she was surprised to see that he had returned. She was even more surprised to see that he was asleep with a little smile on his face. He must have been having a nice dream.

Ginny slipped into the bed next to him and watched as his chest rose and fell in a peaceful rhythm. He really looked so peaceful… which was strange, after that terrible row they had had…

In the morning Harry awoke to the feeling of being watched. He opened his eyes, blinked and saw a pair of emerald eyes fixing him.

"Good morning." Ginny said, giving him a radiant smile.

"What are you doing here?" he frowned, sitting up.

"What?" she propped herself on her elbows. "I'm sleeping in my husband's bed. Is that a problem?"

"I thought you would be spending the night with Malfoy." he grunted, pulling off his pyjama top, then stood up to grab a vest. "Was he any good?"

"I'm not answering stupid questions." she crossed her arms, furiously glaring at her husband. "What is that?" she suddenly pointed at a scar on his chest. "I haven't seen that before. Is it a mark from… your Tatyana?"

"No. First of all: she isn't _my _Tatyana. Never was. Secondly: the mark is from two vicious pogrebins who wanted to kill me because I had been wearing their uncle's fur." he replied.

"What?" she didn't know whether to laugh or scowl. "When did that happen?"

"Around the end of February." Harry shrugged. "Why?"

"Because the gem in my ring flickered on the 27th February – I remember it as though it had been yesterday. I almost got a heart-attack when I saw the first flicker. I wanted to come to you that instant, but the flickering stopped as soon as it started. You weren't in lethal danger for more than two or three seconds, so I couldn't teleport myself to you…"

"You _tried to_ teleport yourself here?"

"Of course I did. Why – did you think that I wouldn't want to save you if you got into trouble?" her expression was full of accusation and sadness. She had risked her life when coming to Durmstrang, even her 'chastity' when accepting Malfoy's conditions – and here was her husband not believing that she'd go to any length to help him… in other words: _not believing in her love_. How dare he?, she fumed. "Believe it or not, Harry Potter, I love you." she said, drawing herself up, her face solemn and dignified. "No matter what a great prat you are, I do love you."

"You shouldn't." he shook his head, pulling on a pair of jeans. 

"Why not?" she asked quietly, her words barely louder than a whisper.

"Because I don't deserve it." he sighed, sitting back down on the bed. 

"Why not?" she repeated her question, tentatively reaching out and placing her hands on his shoulders.

He shrugged her hands off, as though they had burnt him. "I'm going for a walk."

"Good. We can go and look at Aberforth." she nodded, hoping that he wouldn't turn down all her attempts at getting closer to him.

"He's all right." Harry said.

"How could he be all right?" she knitted her eyebrows. "He was quite in a bad shape yesterday."

"He's all right. Believe me." he said coldly and left.

Ginny heaved a sigh. *Draco, Draco, I think this isn't going to be easy. He's as stubborn as a mule!*

* * * * *

When Ginny entered the infirmary, Hermione, Ron and Aaron had already been there, along with McGonagall, who – according to Ginny's suspicion – never even left the sickbed. The visitors were surrounding the invalid's bed, talking in a rather cheery way.

"Sis!" Ron waved happily.

"How's Aberforth?" she asked.

"Never better, never better. My wound has healed, I'm fine, really." the old man grinned at her. "But she," he gave the nurse a rather nasty look, "doesn't allow me to get up until midday. Terrible! I'm condemned to lie here while I could be down in the great hall, celebrating my engagement!"

"Your…what?" Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Aaron gasped. Minerva turned ruby-red.

"Ooooh…" Hermione realised what he meant. "Congratulations!"

"When is the wedding going to take place?" Ron inquired.

"Well… a bit early to tell." McGonagall replied, still furiously blushing. "Around Christmas, I believe."

"Christmas? Great!" Ron clasped his hands. "There's nothing better than getting married at Christmas, is there, honey?" he reached out to pull Hermione into a firm embrace. "But of course… having kids is even better."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Since he got to know about the twins, he cannot be silenced for a minute. He keeps planning the decoration for the babies' room, keeps suggesting names… really Gin, don't you have a couple of good names in store?"

"Nah, she needs them for her own future kids." Ron winked at Ginny, who diverted her stare. She wasn't sure whether she'd ever have more children… given the circumstances, she really couldn't be sure.

* * * * *

At lunch headmaster Krum announced that the points for the second task would be given to the champions at two o'clock and an engagement party would be held at the great hall – combined with dinner. Everyone was quite surprised by both news. Minerva was gazing at her plate all over lunch, never looking up, feeling the students' eyes on her. Aberforth, on the other hand, was cheerier than ever and was grinning and looking at his fiancée-to-be so intently that he kept missing his mouth with the spoon.

Not much of the food had been consumed during lunchtime, since all students used their mouths for talking instead of eating. They had so much to discuss: the events of the past days at Azgard, the engagement, Aberforth's miraculous healing and of course the possible points.

So many things had happened since the second task that practically everyone had forgotten about it – even the champions.

"How are you going to award points if you didn't see our performance?" Mileta asked her brother after they left the great hall.

"Oh, the magical screens are still there." Viktor shrugged. "All we need to do is to perform a Replay charm on them."

"_Replay_?" Mileta went as white as a sheet. What would the judges think when they saw her boggart??? "And… will Harry also be there?"

"I don't think so." Viktor shook his head. "According to his wife, he doesn't feel like socialising nowadays, which I can truly understand. Poor guy… I wouldn't be in his place."

"Then… who is going to be the fifth judge?" his sister got curious.

"Well… I asked Ginny."

"Gi…" Mileta felt like having been petrified. "Oh, no!"

At two o'clock all students and teachers gathered around the screens that had been hovering before the entrance of the underground ice-cave for about a week.

Dennis was feeling quite self-confident. Eleanor Branstone was giving him encouraging smiles – not that he needed them – he hadn't done anything wrong in the second task, after all. 

Guillaume – though being smiled at by professor Zvezda – still felt jittery. In seconds everybody would be seeing his wonderful ice-sculptures… along with the floor that he had stupidly turned so slippery that Mileta fell and knocked over the statues. The judges would surely be taking points from both him and her because of that.

The most nervous of all of them was Ms. Krum. She not only hadn't been capable of fighting her own boggart, but then she ruined the whole cave as well. "I'm not going to get a single point… not a single one…" she murmured.

"What makes you think that?" Dennis asked. 

"Because… I screwed up the whole second task!" she pouted. "I made the tunnel cave in…"

"… freeing Aaron from the captivity of ice." Dennis reminded her. "It might have been a blunder, but it had a positive outcome."

"The judges aren't giving points for sheer luck!" she knitted her eyebrows. "And then… when they'll see my boggart… especially when Mrs. Potter sees it… I think I'm going to faint."

"You're not." Dennis patted her on the shoulder. "Have a bit of self-confidence, Mili."

"I'll try." she smiled at him, seeing that he had been already looking at Eleanor again. *That's my ill-luck.* she thought. *Whenever I grow to like a guy, he turns out to be married or at least be smitten with someone else.* she felt like kicking something.

And then, the show started. The crowd watched with interest as the champions fought down the obstacles and many of the spectators started to laugh at the Lockhart-boggart. Fred and George were practically howling with laughter and Ginny also laughed so hard that she had tears in her eyes. When Mileta's boggart came, Ginny stopped laughing. 

_"You silly, silly girl_!" the boggart-Harry shouted. "_Did you think, did you really think I'd ever like you?"_

Ginny squinted at Mileta, who was standing there with her eyes downcast. Ginny's heart ached, seeing her misery. Mileta had been quite nasty to her, still, she felt sympathy for that girl. They had something in common, after all: they loved the same man.

At the same time the man they both loved, stood on a small hill next to the lake, looking over the crowd. He was wearing his invisibility cloak that he managed to salvage from Azgard.

The crowd of wizards and witches beneath him clapped admiringly whenever the champions did something brave and gasped as one single entity when the tunnel started to cave in. They reminded Harry of his own first task… when every spectator cheered and oooohed and aaahed… those times were over. For Harry it seemed it had happened a lifetime earlier… in another life.

Another life.

This life was never going to be the same for him. _He_ did not feel the same. He was desperately seeking for himself in that shell called body, but he simply couldn't find what he was looking for. He was lost. The Harry Potter the world had known was gone. And not only to the world, but to Harry himself as well. 

Looking at the yelling crowd below, he felt extremely empty. He did not feel envious of their powers, he did not feel envious of their happiness… he did not feel envy at all. He felt emptiness.

Emptiness, that not even the love of his wife could fill. Not even the love of his children or friends…

He no more felt belonging to these people. They belonged to another world that wasn't Harry's anymore.

When he felt he had seen enough, he returned to the castle. He didn't hear when Viktor Krum announced that the three champions were to receive fifty points each.

Mileta's eyes widened in surprise. "But… I made several blunders! I couldn't fight my boggart! I made the cave tumble in! I screwed up Guillaume's looks!"

"Remember what the second task was about?" Aberforth said. "Co-operation. We wanted to test your abilities in co-operation. All of you proved to have the required qualities, since all of you helped the others pretty well. Thus, all three of you deserve full marks."

"But the ceiling! The walls…! Guillaume's face!" Mileta protested.

"Mr. Lochar's face is almost back to normal... in two weeks or so his complexion will be as rosy as always. Anyway, you got out in one piece, and that's what counts. You were excellent in team-work. Fifty points. And don't want to persuade the judges that you deserve less!" the old wizard winked at her.

"See, you were great, Mili." Dennis said. "Truly great. And that stuff you did with the two wands at Azgard… wow!"

"How can you remember that? You were unconscious back then." she frowned.

"I have been told about it, then I imagined it." he smiled back at her and she felt her knees buckle.

* * * * *

"And when did you realise that you loved each other?" Ginny asked McGonagall at the engagement party that was combined with dinner.

"Well…" Minerva looked at her husband-to-be.

"I realised that I loved her…" Aberforth cut in, "…when she told me off for having sung so early in the morning. That was right the day after I arrived."

McGonagall gave him a surprised look. "Really, Aberforth? I never knew…"

"You bewitched me, dear Minerva, with the first dressing-down you gave me." Dumbledore grinned at her.

"And you…?" Ron turned to McGonagall.

"Well… I guess I started to like him after… he made the dragon wear top-hat and bow-tie."

"Hey, that was the very same day I started to like you!" her fiancé pointed out.

"Was it?" she raised an eyebrow. "Could be…"

"A toast!" Krum stood up and raised his cup.

"Hopefully this is no tea." Aberforth smirked, lifting his own goblet.

"Now. Champagne." the headmaster winked.

"Great!" Ron yelled eagerly, only to get a withering glance from Hermione.

Viktor cleared his throat. "This is a very special moment for me… the first time I've proposed a toast. I don't know how to be eloquent… so, may Minerva and Aberforth be very happy together! Well… that's all, I guess."

The students and teachers in the hall clapped enthusiastically.

"Kiss, kiss, kiss!" Fred and George shouted. Arthur gave them a scolding look, but soon everyone else in the hall joined the twins, demanding a kiss from the newly betrothed couple.

Minerva was reluctant. "In front of everyone?"

"But Minnie, we have already done it, remember?" Aberforth caught her hand. "Remember?"

"How could I ever forget that?" she laughed. "All right."

As they kissed (Minerva intended to make it be a quick, small kiss, but Aberforth caught her and didn't let her go until she couldn't breath), the whole hall erupted with applause and cheers again.

Harry was watching the new couple from the door-frame, under his cloak.

"May you live happily, my friends. You deserve it." he whispered and headed for the lake.

By the time he reached the coast, the goldfish was already there.

"You're late!" it demanded as Harry dropped his cloak on the ground.

"Late? I didn't know I had to be on time." he gave the fish a sarcastic look. What was this fish thinking of itself? Harry was the 'master' for the time being, still the 'servant' was giving orders. Ridiculous.

"All right, what's your second wish?" asked the fish.

"Well…" Harry sat down on a rock, staring at the water.

"Don't tell me that you haven't made up something all day?"

"Well… in fact I haven't." Harry shrugged. "I was thinking, of course… there are so many things I would like to have…"

"First of all, your powers, right?" the fish suggested.

"Yeah, that's what I desire most." Harry replied. "But…"

"What could be more important to you?" the fish asked, surprised, as the Moon illuminated Harry's troubled face.

With desperate, helpless expression, the young man looked around, then suddenly a faint smile appeared on his face and he let out a happy sigh: "I've got it. My second wish is…"

**A/N2:** I know, I know, you hate me because of these evil cliffies. Don't worry, in the next chapter you'll get to know Harry's third wish, I promise that I won't cut off his line for the third time as well. That would be way too evil, even from me :) 

I don't know whether you have recognised, but the Aberforth-Minerva scene at the beginning contained a bit of Star Wars and a bit of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. 

Only four more chapters to go. I can't guarantee you to start uploading the third fic right after I finish this one, because the third one is/will be really long – up till now it has 20 chapters, but it's already as long as the 39 chapters of this fic together. So, I guess I still have a lot to work on it, because I'm only around the two-thirds of it.

If you'd like me to send you a note when I start uploading my third fic, then just drop your email-addresses into this review, or any of your future reviews. 


	36. Realisations

**A/N:** thank you for the wonderful reviews as always. You have no idea how much they mean to me. Originally I wanted to upload this chapter on Thursday, but I decided to upload the rest of the fic quicker than planned, so that I'm done with this one earlier and then I can give all my attention to the third story.

Some of you didn't understand the first wish. I thought it was obvious: Harry wished for Aberforth's life. So that is why Aberforth almost died, but – as he said – 'got dragged back' into life in the last second. Anyway, I'm going to do so with the next two wishes as well: mention that Harry wished something at the end of the previous chapter, and show its result at the beginning of the next one. You'll see below the result of Harry's second wish – I hope that all of you will understand it this time.

It was particularly funny for me that STILL NO ONE managed to come even close to Harry's second wish. Many of you voted for Dannie becoming a wizard or Harry getting his powers back, some of you mentioned Harry wishing some happiness for himself, others thought he'd wish for Ginny getting together with Malfoy (though you KNOW that I wouldn't do such a thing!), and one reader also voted for Harry wishing Mileta to be happy. Mileta! LOL, I particularly liked that idea!

_Bucky:_ Darth Agi can reassure you that Harry won't wish for Aberforth and Minerva's youth. About the other part of your review – you're damn close. Clever as always :)

_Cassandra Anythemist:_ Harry will not wish anything in connection with Malfoy. He doesn't like him that much, you know.

_Eclectus:_ I have already given my reasons to another reviewer why I don't upload my fics on schnoogle: number one: 90% of the authors there are H/Hr and D/G shippers. Thus, they wouldn't like my story. Number two: I have no idea how to upload there and how to view the reviews I'd get there. I have tried to view other people's reviews and always could read only 4-5 reviews. Number three: in order to upload your fic there, you need a beta (possibly from the site) and I know no one there. My beta was my mum, thus I'm sure that my fics are full of grammatical mistakes – thus they aren't appropriate for a site like schnoogle that only accepts 'perfect' fics. 

_Moony Lover_: thanks, my grandpa is feeling a bit better.

_zzxm_: you didn't even  know that J.K. got married???? You cannot call yourself a diehard HP fan, then! (no offence, but…) On Boxing Day last year she got married to a young (younger than her) divorcee called … Murray. (I don't remember his given name. Neil, perhaps?). The guy's a doctor (and anaesthetist, if I'm not mistaken), and what the coolest is that he looks like James Potter! Black hair, dark eyes, glasses. Hm, J.K. really has a good taste.   

_NuttyBuddy:_ the sex ed was in this story, in chapter 12 – Harry was in The Dancing Bear with Mileta Krum and reflected on the past, remembering that particular class.

_Alexander Pheonix_: don't worry, Harry isn't THAT stupid.

_C-chan_: what fic did ffnet delete?

_Black Ice_: I guess everyone's like that: everyone likes writing cliffies but hates reading them.

_Elfangor19_: your 200-points-worth guess was false. Sorry…

_Katie Bell_: Hermione is due in September.

_Kristen Michelle_: I'm glad you caught my Beauty and the beast reference. I also like that movie, though it's a bit sad. 

_romina:_ you pronounce Guillaume as 'giyom'. I don't know yet what the third fic will be called, perhaps it will be 'The greatest enemy ever faced', but that's just a work-title. I usually name my stories when I'm ready with them, no sooner.

_Pamela-potter-24_: do not worry. Trust me.

_apple-pie_: in my first story there were 17 chapter that ended with a cliffie – exactly the half of the chapters. In this one 18 chapters end with a cliffie – so less than the half. People shouldn't complain about cliffies all the time – there's not even that many of them!

_Kamatazi Yumi:_ I cannot start uploading the third fic as long as it's not totally ready. The reason: I usually change things in the first couple of chapters when I have written the thirtieth, because writing the thirtieth I suddenly realise that I should have mentioned something in the first one, and if that's already uploaded, I can no more change it. The delay will only do good to the fic, it will be better if it's written more thoroughly. Thanks for volunteering for the editing, but I have two betas for it, and that's just enough. I didn't have a warm and fuzzy cat to hug on the cold nights, but one night I dreamed about reading HP book 5 – and Hagrid announced that Olympe was expecting his baby :)

_K. C. Hunter:_ I'm sorry that your parents are going to divorce. Mines did it long ago.

_xenocide:_ what? I HAVE updated – twice (no, thrice)! Perhaps your computer wasn't working well?

_Rab:_ Anor did have his wand. So did Aaron. They both had wands. Why didn't Aaron kill his brother? Hm… brotherly love? Thanks for the two links, though I had already heard of poor Natalie's case and also read the Rowling interview somewhere else. Anyway, thanks :) 

_Jeanine23Dr:_ I promise you that this chapter is the LAST one in this fic that ends with a cliffie. The remaining three won't have cliffies.

_Any last requests_: you wrote: "or maybe he'll have to make a choice between his own powers and his son's? Nah, surely you wouldn't be that cruel". My answer: don't be sure that I wouldn't.

_LilGinny_: I have also been sick lately – a nasty cold, just like yours. I hope you're feeling better and your grandpa, too.  

_Myr Halcyon_: the term 'everyone' would be a bit… er… well, dunno. I'd rather not use it. So, Minerva is ooc? Well, she's in love, that's why. Rowling would never write a Minerva in love, I guess. You know what? Some people said that my Harry and Ginny were ooc, but you said that they were very well written. Thanks, I'm happy that at least you think so! In story #3 I'll try to make Minerva be in character, but I can't promise anything – Aberforth's silly behaviour will a bit rub off on her (don't worry, not much – she'll be rather strict in fic #3).  

_Whit2005_: I'm 21 years old (see my bio) and I live in Hungary's capital, Budapest. (NOT Bukarest – that's the capital of Romania and people keep mistaking the two cities for each other, and that makes us Hungarians rather mad :) I guess I'll write other fics after the third one.

_goldenstar555_: I'm glad I managed to make you feel happy and sad at the same time. It always delights an author to know that people are touched by what he/she writes :)

_thebiggesthpfan_: how do you know that Rowling's baby is a boy? It cannot be told when a woman is just three months pregnant, can it? Sometimes the doctors mistake the gender of the baby-to-be-born at a later stage of the pregnancy as well – for example several of my acquaintances said that they had been told they'd have boys, because the stupid doctors mistook the umbilical cord for a penis, but the babies were born and turned out to be girls. I seriously doubt that Rowling already knows the gender of her baby – unless Sybill Trelawney told her – but then again, if it was Trelawney, then we can be sure that the baby is a girl :)

**Also thanks to**: _Silver Wolf, casvv, X-Tow-Naga, jona, Lana Riddle, baybe_xoxo, Kit Cloudkicker, The-Girl-Who-Lived, Colibi, White Raven, Molto Bella, Indigo Ziona, waldomier, AmandaPanda, Puck, ArtisticNightmare, 2Coolio, Arif, PadmeSkywalker, Saphron, Sirius B, figgiesblazin, Houou, Blondie in Disguise, princesswitch, princess Ginny, Wood's Secret Lover, twinkle toes  _

Okay, and now, on to my favourite chapter of the whole story! (It is mum's fave chapter, too, I hope you'll like it just as much as she did :)

**Chapter 36**

**Realisations **

_Hogwarts, the same evening_

Professor Lupin heard a knock on the door. "Who's there?" he shouted, hoping that it was not a student. He didn't want to be seen by a student now – just a couple of minutes before the Moon came up.

"It's me, Padfoot!" came the answer.

Remus opened the door and saw a widely grinning Sirius standing there.

"What are you doing here?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Well… I've been spending a bit of time at Hogsmeade, and…"

"A bit of time?" Remus found this rather funny. "You haven't even left Hogsmead for more than two weeks!"

"Have you been spying on me, or what?" Sirius folded his arms.

"No. But my students saw you there yesterday… and heard from the owner of Gladrags that you had spent two weeks at _The Three Broomsticks_."

"What if I have?" Padfoot shrugged. "I was kind of visiting… someone."

"_Someone_, oh sure." Lupin smirked. "You haven't even been to Black Manor for two weeks?"

"No. Should I have? Ginny's taking care of the house pretty well." Sirius replied, having no idea that Ginny had left for Durmstrang.

"All right, tell me, what brought you here now?"

"Well, you know… I was in a mood of… nostalgia. I felt like reviving the old habits, Moony."

"What old habits?" Remus frowned.

Sirius gave him a mischievous look. "It's going to be full Moon tonight. Let's make Moony and Padfoot ride again!"

"Are you out of your mind?" Lupin gasped. 

"Why would I be? You aren't dangerous now that you're drinking Wolfsbane. You are going to turn into a peaceful werewolf and we are going to have fun. Give it a try!"

Remus' mouth tucked into a smirk. "All right."

An hour later they were running on the dewy grass of the Hogwarts park. The Moon had already risen, bathing the ground and the treetops with its white light, making the lake glitter in an ethereal way. 

Even as a wolf, Moony felt joy to see something so beautiful. He still feared the moonlight, but all those years had taught him how to live together with the inevitable. 

Padfoot ran in front of him, friendly wiggling his tail, beckoning him to follow. Just like in the old days, when all the four Marauders had been together...

Moony's heart ached that Prongs couldn't be with them now... as for Wormtail… he had also been a great friend back at school.

However, those times were over.

Moony decided not to let sad thoughts into his heart tonight… Padfoot wanted him to enjoy himself, and that was exactly what he was going to do.

He followed his friend onto the meadows next to Hogsmeade, trying to overtake him. The shaggy black dog barked mockingly, as if saying: "You'll never catch me, old boy!"

Sirius kept looking back at Remus, who was enthusiastically following him. Suddenly he heard something out of place.

He looked back again to see his wolf-friend double up in pain. What happened to him? Had someone shot him or what?

Padfoot turned back into Sirius and ran up to Lupin.

"What happened? Remus!" he shouted, having no idea what to do. It wasn't wise for him to stay near a werewolf in human form, even if that werewolf had drunk Wolfsbane potion. Sirius, however, didn't consider the dangers – he wanted to help his friend.

Poor Moony seemed to be suffering terribly for minutes – and then… his mane began to thin, his tail began to shrink and his claws began to turn back into nails.

It was like seeing the opposite of a man turning into a werewolf.

This was a werewolf turning into a man… while the full Moon was still brightly shining above.

The howls of the wolf changed into human yelps, then even the yelps ceased and only panting could be heard.

"Moony!" Sirius dropped to his knees, gently shaking the huddled body of Lupin. "Moony!"

Remus slowly raised his tousled head, his eyes meeting that of his best friend. Sirius saw the consternation on his face. Lupin looked down at his hands… there were no claws on them. He reached out with his right hand to touch his left arm… there was no animal fur on it. He felt his face… it was smooth. Remus slowly sat upright, gazing up at the Moon. For the first time for more than three decades, he could look at the full Moon as a human being. It was nothing but a celestial object, after all. White, bright, harmless.

He felt tears in his eyes but blinked them back, gulping. "Padfoot…" he croaked, seeing the appalled expression of his friend. "What… what… happened…?"

"You're human again… I think…" Sirius breathed. "But… how?"

"I don't know…" Remus shook his head. "I don't know."

"This is… a miracle." Sirius reached out to place his hand on Lupin's shoulder. "A real miracle."

"I never believed in miracles." Remus whispered. "Never."

"Then you should start believing in them, my friend." Sirius smiled.

"But… but… how could this happen?" Remus clutched at Black's hands. Tears were now pouring down his cheeks. "How?"

"I don't know. You might have a well-wisher out there somewhere… or a guardian angel."

Lupin smiled at his friend through his tears, sending a silent thank-you to whomever who had done this miracle.

* * * * *

Harry was walking back from the lake, deeply immersed in his thoughts. According to the noises coming from the great hall, people there were still celebrating. He heaved a sigh and started down the path to the castle when he heard another noise as well… sleigh-bells.

He looked to the left, seeing that he was close to the stalls. With a sudden thought he headed for the shabby building. He couldn't explain what made him go there – he just went.

As he entered, the reindeer all looked up, as if welcoming him.

"Hullo." he said with a small smile, stepping to Rudolph, gently patting his neck. The animal cuddled his muzzle into Harry's hand, radiating warmth and sympathy. "I thought you didn't like me." the young man whispered. "I thought you always hated me."

*Not always, only when you were saying nasty things about us reindeer.*

"Sorry, I know I shouldn't have." Harry replied with a sad smile. "I apologise."

*No offence taken, kid.* a female reindeer answered through the mind-link Harry shared with these animals.

"Really… can you tell me… how can I still be talking to you now that I'm a Muggle?"

*The ability of understanding us has nothing to do with magic. Good ol' Santa's also a Muggle but there's no one who understands reindeer better than him.*

Harry was surprised. "I thought Aberforth was kidding when he was talking about Santa Claus. I thought he was just… you know… the crazy old guy." he looked around just to make sure that no one was overhearing him, then leaned close to Rudolph: "Does Santa Claus really exist?"

*Of course he does.* the oldest reindeer replied. *You never believed in him? Not even when you were a small child?*

"Not really." Harry shook his head. "My childhood wasn't the type of childhood that allows one to daydream and believe in fairy tales… or to believe in magic."

*That's sad… that children nowadays are deprived of the beauty of believing in magic.* Rudolph replied. *There's magic everywhere… and in everyone…*

"Not in me." Harry said bitterly.

*Oh, yes, there is.* a young reindeer replied. *Maybe not in the way you would like to have it… but it's in you. Not in your cells, not in your blood anymore, but… in your heart, Harry Potter.*

"What do you mean…?"

Before Rudolph could answer, someone cleared his throat.

Harry turned around to see Draco Malfoy standing at the door.

"What do you want?"

"I was looking for you, Potter." the blonde boy replied coldly. "Ginny's worried about you."

"Is she?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "I thought she was too occupied with you to notice me."

"Ha-ha. Don't be ridiculous." Draco growled. "Just to inform you, she loves you. I don't know why she does, because you don't deserve her at all… but she does."

"She'd better forget me." Harry replied, heading for the door. He was about to walk past the other boy, but Draco grabbed his arm.

"You are going to listen to me, Potter."

"Why would I be listening to you, Malfoy? What do you have to tell me, huh? Are you here to brag about getting my wife? Well, congratulations. Now let me go." he ripped his arm out of Malfoy's grip and exited the stalls.

"I never slept with her." Draco said quietly, still loud enough for Harry to hear.

Harry stopped, then slowly turned around. "What?"

"I said I never slept with Ginny. Never even kissed her. We did nothing at all."

Harry made an incredulous expression. "But… your agreement…"

"She and I bet. She won, so I cancelled her debt."

"That's not why you cancelled it, is it?" Harry put his hands into the pockets of his pogrebin-fur coat, trying to look and sound as nonchalant as possible. "You did it because you love her."

Draco crossed his arms. "All right, Potter. _I do_. I love her, there's no point in denying it. I never even meant that debt. It was a good excuse for me to come with her, watch over her and protect her if needed… Had you died, I would have done anything to make her be mine, but… she was so happy that you lived… She chose you even as an old man, because... she loves you. She loves _you_ and no one else." his glance met that of Harry and Harry was surprised to see the sincerity on Malfoy's face. Sincerity, painful sincerity. "I love her and I want to see her happy… even if her only happiness is a git like you. Be worthy of her love, Potter. Forget this 'oh-shit-I'm-no-wizard-anymore' whining and go back to her!"

Harry's eyes were still fixing Draco's features, trying to find a trace of deception on them, but he couldn't. He had heard Malfoy lying so many times back at Hogwarts, he had heard him mocking and seen him bullying people into doing what he wanted… but this time he wasn't bullying anyone. He wasn't even deceiving anyone. The usual Malfoy-trademark-derisive-grin was nowhere to be seen, those cold-grey eyes didn't radiate malice – they radiated something else. Encouragement? Resolution? Harry couldn't tell, but he was sure of one thing: this wasn't that typical 'I-get-any-woman-I-want'-stare Draco had worn so often. No, this was rather an 'I'm-willing-to-give-up-the-woman-I-love' sort of stare.  

"Are you sure?" young Potter breathed. "Do you really think I could make her be happy – even like this?"

"You're a complete fool if you have misgivings about it, Potty." Draco gave Harry a penetrating stare. "Come on, move your ass. Run back into her inviting arms!"

A small smile appeared on Harry's face, but he still didn't budge.

"Listen, if she was in love with _me_," Draco continued, "I would have long left you here to wallow in self-pity, but it's not me she loves, but you, Scarhead. So… what the hell are you still waiting for???"

Now that small smile that had appeared on Harry's face started to grow, until he was practically beaming like a sun at the zenith… and he started to run… then suddenly stopped and doubled back. "See, you can be normal if you try, Malfoy!" and with that, he was off.

"Yeah…" Draco sighed, leaning to the doorframe of the stall. "_Normal_…"

* * * * *

"Ginny!" Harry burst into great hall. Not many people were still left there – most students had already gone to bed.

"Harry!" all his friends shouted, surprised to see him.

"Harry, what happened?" Ginny asked with a worried expression.

"I'll tell you, just come…" Harry took her by the hand and dragged her out of the hall.

"Is he gone mad?" Ron knitted his eyebrows.

"No idea. But it's good that he finally put in an appearance, don't you think?" Hermione added.

"Well… I guess we'll get to know about it by tomorrow morning." Aberforth shrugged. "Let's go to bed, shall we?" he shot a meaningful look at Minerva, who only wrinkled her nose and said NO quite resolutely.

* * * * *

"Harry, what happened?" Ginny panted as they entered Harry's room after having run up all four floors. She was clutching a stitch in her side, worriedly eyeing her husband. "Are you all right?"

"Yes, I am! I feel wonderful!" he pulled her into an embrace. "I can't say I have never been better, but… hell, I was being so stupid! Shame that there had to be a bunch of reindeer and one Draco Malfoy to make me realise it!"

"I still don't understand, dear." she replied. "What happened? What did Malfoy say?"

"He said I was a jerk."

"And since when do you care what Malfoy says?" she furrowed her brow.

"Since he made me see after being blind… since he made me realise that if you loved me, then nothing else mattered… not even my lack of magic. _Nothing_." with that he pulled her to himself, catching her lips in a searing kiss.

"You're really a jerk, Harry Potter." she grinned when they parted. "A jerk because you needed to hear Malfoy's opinion to come to your senses. I guess I'm in Malfoy's debt again."

"This time try to find _something else_ to settle the debt." he grinned, placing a small kiss on the tip of her nose.

"I'll try." she laughed, flinging her arms around his neck. "And now, Mr. Potter… what do you reckon we should do?"

"I don't know… go and build a snow-man?"

"Nooooo… the snow has started to melt." she replied, pushing the coat off his shoulders. "It's getting quite warm, you know…"

"Exactly, quite warm." he breathed, nibbling on her left ear. "You can't imagine how warm I feel."

"Then maybe you should take your clothes off." she suggested.

"Not a bad idea, Mrs. Potter."

In the middle of the night, Harry awoke to see Ginny tossing and turning in her sleep. She was shouting, waving with her hands, as if trying to chase something away, and she was speaking in… Parseltongue.

"Gin, wake up!" Harry shook her gently. She opened her eyes, gasping for breath. "It's okay… sssh… just a nightmare…" he pulled her into his embrace, kissing her temple.

"That nightmare again…" she whispered. "That returning nightmare of the snake Malfoy and I fought against…"

"What snake?" he asked.

"Well… as Malfoy and I were coming to Durmstrang, we had a bit of a fight with a huge sea-serpent in the Finnish Bay."

"Oh…" Harry breathed. He remembered to have had a dream/hallucination when he had been unconscious with pneumonia. He had seen Ginny and Draco fighting against something on a snowy field.  

"It's a bit long story, but the main point is that it made me realise that…"

"…you were Parselmouth?" he finished the sentence.

"Yeah." she nodded. "According to Draco I became one when you resurrected me with Apophys' torch. But… how did you know?"

"I heard you speaking in Parseltongue in your sleep." he smiled. "It seems that even if my magic powers are gone, I still possess the ability of speaking Parseltongue. You were screaming in your dream."

"And… what was a I screaming?" she snuggled into the crook of his arm.

"As far as I remember, you were asking the serpent to leave Malfoy alone."

"Was I?"

"Yeah…" he nodded, then suddenly sat bolt upright as though having been struck by a lightning. "That's it!"

"What?" she yawned, curiously watching as Harry threw a dressing-gown over himself. "Where are you going?"

"Into the library! I'll be back soon!" he shouted excitedly and hurried off.

*What got into him?* Ginny wondered, pulling on her night-dress. With Harry gone there was no one for her to share body heat with.

* * * * *

Harry rushed downstairs, feeling a bit cold. He wasn't wearing anything under the dressing gown, after all.

He opened the door of the library and entered. Thanks to the full Moon, the whole room was bathed in light, so Harry didn't even need a candle or a lamp.

He rushed into the foreign language section.

"_English-Latin dictionary_… _Latin-Russian dictionary_… _A wizard's guide to effective language-study_… oh, Mr. Crouch surely read this book… _Easy German in three magical steps_… Aha! _The Encyclopaedia of Parseltongue_…" he took the book off the shelf, then sat down at a table and started turning over the pages. He remembered to have read this book back at Hogwarts, but he couldn't recall every detail of it… still, there was something he had a very faint memory of… but he wasn't sure. He couldn't be sure…

On page 113 he finally found what he was looking for:

_'The first Parselmouth couple were Salazar Slytherin and his second wife, Selena Slytherin. They had eighteen children. For years and years they had been trying to prevent conception, however they never succeeded, no matter what potion or charm they used. Only at their old age did they come to the conclusion that their incredible fertility could be put down to their both being Parselmouths. If two Parselmouths copulate and the woman is not yet with a child, nothing can prevent her from getting pregnant. No charm or potion at all._

_The Slytherin couple's theory was proved by the second known Parselmouth couple, Gottfried and Griselda Grindelwald,(ancestors of the dark wizard Grindelwald) in the sixteenth century. They had 'only' fifteen children, but at least they already knew the reason for their unaccustomed productivity. Up till now no other Parselmouth couples have been registered.'_

Harry closed the book. It had been published in 1995. So, it seemed that Ginny and he were the third such couple in the whole wizarding history.

"Great. Just great." he sighed. "We haven't used condom tonight… how am I going to explain her this? She might be already… arrgghhh…" he slammed the book shut and decided to take it upstairs so that Ginny could also read it. It was easier to let her know that way, after all.

He exited the library and turned right on the corner to reach the staircase when he bumped into someone. He fell on his butt, the book flew out of his hand, and his dressing gown opened.

He jerked the cloth back into place, then slowly looked up to see Mileta Krum madly grinning down at him.

"What are you doing out of bed in the middle of the night?" he demanded, feeling himself turn ruby-red.

"I could be asking you the same." she replied, still unable to stop smirking.

"All right. I'm not asking you and not telling anyone that I saw you on the corridors at two a.m., if you also keep your mouth shut about what you have just seen."

"Deal." she grinned and hurried down the corridor.

Harry bent down to pick up his book, feeling rather embarrassed. *What could Mileta be doing up so late?* he wondered.

He was just about to start climbing the stairs again when he heard steps. He barely could hide behind a statue of Peter the Great before Dennis Creevey stormed downstairs, disappearing in the direction Mileta had also gone.

*Aha!* Harry thought, grinning. *The little imps have finally found each other. Great. Now Mileta will probably stop following me around.*

With a bit lighter heart he climbed the stairs and entered his room to see Ginny wide awake, waiting for him.

"So?" she crossed her arms. "Where have you been?"

"Ginny, you won't believe what I got to know…" he began, dropping himself down on the bed, handing her a huge book. "Read this."

* * * * *

Ron had already left for breakfast when Hermione was still up in their room, writing a very long entry into her diary. She needed to jot down everything that had happened in the last two weeks: their kidnap, Harry's lost powers, Harry as an old man, Draco and Ginny coming to save them, the Weasleys and Lucius turning up, the evil couple's death, Harry's miraculous change back into a young man, Aberforth' miraculous healing, the engagement… simply everything.

She was just about to add a sentence about the outcome of the second task, when there was a knock on the door.

She opened it to see her sister-in-law standing there with a rather pale and nervous complexion, holding a large book.

"Hello, Gin, come in." Hermione motioned with her hand and Ginny entered. "You look troubled. What happened?"

"I'm… a Parselmouth, Hermione." the red-haired girl muttered, sinking down into a chair.

"What?" Hermione's eyes widened in surprise.

"I… must have become one when Harry brought my soul back from the netherworld… using the Green Flame Torch." Ginny sighed. "I only realised it about two weeks ago…"

"And? What is so terrible about that?" Hermione asked. "Since You-Know-Who died, I don't think people would find you dangerous just because you're a Parselmouth."

"That's not the point." Ginny opened the book on page 113, placing it on the table before her sister-in-law, pointing at a paragraph.

After Hemione finished reading it, she looked up, an incredulous expression on her face. "So that's why you two had Daniel despite all precautions."

"Yeah." Ginny nodded, still looking very nervous about something.

"What is troubling you?" Hermione frowned. 

Ginny gulped. "During the Christmas holidays I didn't get pregnant because we were using your… gift." she turned slightly red. "But last night…"

"Oh!" Hermione breathed. "I see. You believe you might be carrying a third Potter baby."

"Exactly." Ginny nodded. "Is there… is there a charm or something to get to know if it's true or not?"

"Well… there is one… but I'm not sure it can detect pregnancy only a couple of hours after conception. But it's worth a try."

"Then do it." Ginny pleaded. "I want to know… I need to know."

Hermione gave her sister-in-law an encouraging smile, lifting her wand, then touched its tip to Ginny's belly. "_Profero graviditas_!"

A very tiny little spark emerged from the tip of the wand – then another… and another.

Ginny blinked, not really understanding the meaning of the little sparks that neatly arranged themselves into a triangle and hovered in mid-air. "What… does this mean?"

"This means, Gin…" Hermione put a hand on the other girl's shoulder, "that you two must have been unusually fertile last night, my friend."

Ginny blinked down at the small triangle, feeling dizzy, then warily looked up at Hermione again.

"Yes, Gin… you are going to have triplets."

Hermione barely could catch Ginny as she blacked out.

"Tri… triplets?" Harry gasped, slapping his forehead. "My gosh!"

"Hey, Harry, look at the bright side of it!" Fred interjected. "Now you can have sex without worrying that you might get her pregnant."

"Oh… very comforting thought, really." Harry snorted.

"Aren't you a little bit happy, Harry?" Ginny asked, tears brimming her eyes.

Harry had a feeling of deja vu – she had had asked him the same at their wedding when she told him about the arrival of Daniel. Back then he could easily say that he was delighted – and he really felt it. Back then he had no idea about his family's regrettable tendency to produce squibs.

He turned to Ginny, taking hold of her hands, cupping her chin to make her look into his eyes. "I cannot say that I'm delighted, Gin, but I would lie if I said that I didn't feel proud at all. This whole thing was a bit… quick… but we'll manage it."

"Oh, Harry." she flung her hands around his neck, burying her face into his chest. "Of course we'll manage it… of course we will!"

"All's well that ends well." George grinned at the embracing couple.

"I don't think this is the end." Fred shook his head with an expression that seemed unaccustomedly stern for him. "I think this is just the beginning for them. And I hope that this is the beginning of something wonderful… even without Harry's powers, they love each other so much that they deserve to be happy."

"Fred, what got into you?" Arthur was surprised to hear his impish son talking like that.

"I've been thinking, dad." Fred shrugged. "About life… love… and stuff. And I came to a conclusion."

"What?" Arthur and George asked in unison.

"I love Angelina. I want her to be happy. And it's me who can make her happy." he straightened himself. "So, I guess I'll be proposing to her."

George's eyes popped in surprise. "You? The confirmed bachelor getting married?"

"Why not?" Fred shrugged. "She needs a husband now that the kid's coming. And I guess I could make an all right father, after all."

"And what about me?" George asked. "My rights as a father?"

"Well… there was a Muggle movie about a little girl having three fathers at once. If she could endure three daddies, then this kid could endure two."

"Poor Angelina." Arthur rolled his eyes.

"And that poor kid." Ron added with a smirk.

* * * * *

After lunch the Malfoys departed. Lucius said he had lots to do back in Great Britain and Draco insisted that he was also busy.

Before they could travel to _The Dancing Bear_ by floo, Harry called after Draco:

"Hey, Malfoy!"

"What, Potter?"

"Thanks."

"Save your gratitude, Potter and make sure that she's happy. That's all I want." and with that he was off.

At eight p.m. Harry excused himself from the family and friends and headed down for the lake. He still had a final wish to make.

Now that he knew about the arrival of the triplets, he found this wish-making stuff even more difficult than ever before.

Ha wanted his powers back, but he also wanted his son to become a wizard. He wanted his future children also be magic, but it was simply impossible to make all these things come true through one wish.

He couldn't say 'make me and my children be magic', after all, because there was the word 'and' in there and that damned fish refused to fulfil such wishes.

He could probably use a collective term such as 'family', but he couldn't just say 'make my whole family become magic', because his family also included the Dursleys. If Petunia and Vernon also became magic that would surely be the end of the world!

If he said 'may there be no squibs in my family', it still wouldn't be of any use to him, since he _wasn't _a squib. Squibs were magicless children born from magic parents, but Harry _had been born magic_, just lost his powers later. Thus he couldn't be called a squib.

He had never expected this wish-making stuff being so complicated. 

He couldn't say 'make all the Potters be magic!', because that wish would contain a family name, and that was also forbidden. In his first two wishes he had to name the beneficiaries as Aberforth and Remus, not as Aberforth Dumbledore and Remus Lupin. No family names allowed.

*Damn restrictions!* Harry kicked into a rock.

"Hey, leave that poor rock alone! Did it hurt you or what?" the voice of the goldfish spoke up as it swam onto the coast.

"It's none of your business what rocks I'm kicking." Harry crossed his arms.

"Have you managed to make up your final wish?" the fish inquired.

Harry sighed, dropping himself down on the rock he had kicked. He felt really miserable – he simply couldn't make a wish that would leave him totally satisfied.

He knew he needed to make a sacrifice… and he would do it for his children.

"All right, goldfish. My third wish: make all my descendants be magic!"

"Are you sure?" the fish asked with a worried expression (Harry was surprised to see that a fish could show expressions at all). "Are you absolutely sure that this is the right formulation of the wish? Don't you rather want your powers back?" 

Harry shook his head. "I could do without magic… somehow. My children are the most important for me. I want the wish fulfilled the way I said it." he really didn't understand why the fish was criticising his wish. "I cannot wish for both my powers and theirs, can I?"

"Now that you say…" the fish looked contemplative for a while, "…no. You really cannot compose the wish in a way to make both you and your children be magic. But that wasn't what I meant. Do you really want all your descendants be magic?"

"Of course I do!" Harry jumped up, now really irritated. What was this fish trying to persuade him to do? He told his wish quite clearly, didn't he?

"All right." the fish said. "So be it." with that it disappeared under the surface, but a second later a beautiful, red-haired woman emerged from the lake.

**A/N2:** this is really the last cliffhanger. Can you guess who the woman is? A clue: I have mentioned her twice, but I'm quite positive that you don't remember :)

Note to _Arif:_ see, there was no 'magical penis' involved :)))))

**A question to you all:** I have two versions for the final line of the fic. One of them is romantic/sappy, the other one is funny but scandalous. I like the latter better but I'd like to make sure that you won't shout at me 'you evil woman, how dare you do that to poor XYZ!' So, which one would you like to read? The romantic or the scandalous? 


	37. Return of the wizard

A/N: the scandalous version won! I KNEW it would :)))) Anyway, you'll get the romantic one as well, given that the scandalous ending is just an additional paragraph after the romantic one. Had you voted for the romantic, then I would have cancelled the last paragraph and ended the fic with a sappy line, but this way you'll get to read both. It was very funny how you were guessing the redheaded woman's identity! You said she was Lily Potter, Molly Weasley, Petunia, Millicent or Rosmerta, Rita Skeeter, Draco with dyed hair… and even Santa Claus! I was rotfl:) 

You have suggested me many ways how Harry could have wished himself powers, as I was sure that my clever readers would find ways for Harry to make a wish in which both he and his kids get powers, but truth be told I didn't want him to get his powers back right in chapter 36 – I wouldn't have been able to write a chapter 37, then. So, I just thought: let both Harry and the goldfish be a bit dim and not find the proper wish so that I can write this chapter the way I planned :) Or maybe the fish wasn't even dim when Harry asked her whether there was another way to formulate the wish so that both he and his kids would get powers – as far as I know this fish (and who would know her better than me), she had a reason to make Harry believe that he HAD TO make a sacrifice… 

Some of you asked questions that I cannot – don't want to – answer right now. Be patient and wait, you'll get the answers (maybe not in this fic, but in the third one you surely will).

_Bucky, C-chan, Indigo Ziona, Sapphire Selia_ and _figgiesblazin_: five hundreds points to Ravenclaw. You five definitely belong there – you were the only ones who managed to guess who the red-headed woman was! Congrats!

_White Raven_: I wish I could get a man like Harry, too :)

_Fairy Tale_: I'm glad you didn't totally forget about Remy and Sirius :) Aberforth is going to get to know how he got healed right in this chapter, but Remus won't get to know for a long, long time. Only in story #3.   

_Moony Lover_: yes, grandpa is feeling better, thanks.

_X-Tow-Naga_: my dear friend, you wouldn't be X-Tow-Naga anymore if you didn't come up with at least half a dozen ideas how Harry could have fixed the mess. And that's why I like you :) 

_Nefertiri_: the triplets are two boys and a girl. Ooc means "out of character". Ah, your Hungarian translation was priceless! LOL! In fact 'nagy bonyodalom' means 'great complications', but it also fits, given that my fic is rather complicated :) If you want to say 'great story' in Hungarian, say 'kiváló történet' (you can just type kivalo tortenet, I'll understand that, too.)

_Black Ice_: yes, the triplets are named already.

_NuttyBuddy_: wasn't long enough? Don't worry, the chapters of fic #3 will be damn long.

_princesswitch_: you are going to see Lockhart and his lady in this story, and there will be a lot of Lockhart in fic #3.

_nycgal_: I don't know any other goldfish personally, so I don't know whether all goldfish are like this or not.

_Arif:_ I'm happy for you, my friend! Don't worry, I'm not going to give the triplets idiotic names. Their names will have the same first letter, but they will be totally normal names. Danny won't be bossy at all, but there will be one bossy character (who won't have too much of a role, so don't worry about that). Dudley and Millicent will have a child, but she won't be mentioned too much, just her name, and that's all. And now, to your German. I hope you don't mind if I correct it a bit. So, it should be as follows: "Guten Tag. Es ist Montag. Es ist vier Uhr zwanzig. Wie viel Uhr ist es in Ungarn? Ich bin vierzehn, wie alt bist du? Hast du eine dritte Story? Ich wohne nicht weit von Fire Station 6. Um die Ecke. Du wohnst in der Stadt. In welcher Stadt wohnst du? Ich wohne in Bloomington, Minnesota. Es ist nicht weit von Minneapolis." Anyway, your German isn't bad at all. How long have you been studying it? Oh, your mum speaks Bengali? Tell me something in Bengali! Tell me, for example: 'How are you?' and 'Good evening'. Oh, how do you say 'may the Force be with you' in Bengali?

_The-Girl-Who-Lived_: what word? I didn't get that. Don't worry, you'll get to know about Aberforth's story in the last chapter, but it's not a reindeer story, but a goat story.

_PepsiAngel:_ I'm glad you liked the line about Aberforth and Minerva. No one else said that they liked it.

_Alexander Pheonix:_ clever :)

_apple-pie:_ I'm glad you liked the idea of the Encyclopaedia of Parseltongue.

_Pamela-potter-24_: you're clever, too :)

_Lavendar Brown_: three chapters, together with this one.

_K.C. Hunter:_ I'm happy for your parents – let's hope they can make up:)

_MauiGoddess3:_ there will be a trilogy, so one more story after this one.

_Elfangor19_: okay, if you want those 100 points to badly – so be it. *look, I'm playing a wish-fulfilling goldfish!* 100 points to Gryffindor.

_xenocide:_ yea, I know that I do humour much better than romance :) That's why I liked the scandalous ending much more. 

_jeanine23Dr_: IMHO Salazar Slytherin could have had lots of children – but maybe his children didn't have that many children and throughout a millennium the family slowly died out, leaving only Voldemort as his heir. 

_Lady Mauricia_: no, my mum doesn't mind if I write R-rated things, she even read a story of mine that was NC-17 and enjoyed it very much. Anyway, I don't think that this fic is R-rated, is it? My mum is rather modern-minded. I guess I was eleven when I first wanted to read an adult book (there wasn't much sex in it, but a lot of reference to it) and I asked her whether I was allowed to read it and she let me. Later on she gave me books with sex-scenes to read because she KNEW that I wasn't the corruptible type. I don't think that Harry was rude to Mileta in the last chapter. He was just embarrassed that she had seen him naked.

_Kit Cloudkicker_: did chapter 36 look like a last chapter? I don't think so.

_Kristen Michelle_: hehe, your idea of Harry having to sleep with Ginny three times to get back his powers is hilarious! But no, it's not that way. I'm not going into any more details on the Parsentongue stuff, I just thought it could be an interesting addition to the story, but there won't be more about it, so if you have a question in connection with it, feel free to ask (probably I won't be able to answer).

_Rab_: I don't know when I finish the third fic – now that school is back I barely have time to write, and another 9-10 chapters need to be written – 9-10 very long chapters, so I can't promise you a quick 'publishing'. 

_xxstrangeonexx_: I'm glad you think that J. K. would be proud of me :)

_Puck_: you wrote: "You know how you wrote what the book said about Parselmouth couples? Well how long does it take you? And where do you get the ideas for it?" Um, truth be told I didn't really understand the question. You want to know where I got the idea for the Encyclopaedia of Parseltongue, or where I got the idea for the whole story? 

Lupin's Angel: good luck with your test. So, you're studying Greek and Roman mythology? That must be fun.

**Also thanks to: **_baybee_xoxo, Houou, unknown reader (you forgot to give your name), PadmeSkywalker, Whit2005, Lynn, rebkos, Super saya-Jin Gotan, Lady Python, Lana Riddle,jennaration, AmandaPanda, aurora riddle, starheart, Cassandra Anthemyst, Sirius B, teazer, princess Ginny, Aimee, Saphron, Katie Bell, Wood's secret lover, zzxm, Tessa, Incubo Artistico, Ice Kitten, goldenstar555, twinkle-toes, J, Faunix, Dauphin, ErisedLily, the coffee fiend, Teri, GinnyPotter387, Maureen, Lady Schezar, Ronniekin's Sweetheart, music_princess, Myr Halcyon, romina, Any last requests, amazing typo, jen, Harrysgirl, FairyBubbles, Colibi, star queen   _

Chapter 37 

**Return of the wizard**

Hogwarts, the same night 

Argus Filch was furious. Two Slytherin students had broken into a closed room on the ground floor to make a highly illegal potion there, which - of course - exploded and dirtied all the nice, forget-me-not blue walls. That certain room had stood empty since Harry Potter and his wife had graduated from the school. It was empty, save a centuries-old parchment book.

Filch looked around in the room, his anger building by the second. There was some yellow, sticky goo on all the four walls and the ceiling, from where it started to dribble down, dirtying the floor as well.

Nothing was clean in the room, except for the book, that had very strong protecting charms against dust and any kind of dirt on it.

Filch grabbed a mop, dropped it into a bucket full of Mrs. Skower's All Purpose Magical Mess Remover, then started to wash the walls.

"Those students should be expelled, I tell you, my sweet!" he growled as Mrs. Norris smelled a yellow puddle on the floor and mewed her disgust.

The caretaker was so absorbed in his work and his fury that he didn't even notice as the magic quill jumped into the bottle of blue ink and started skating on the parchment book.

Had Mrs. Norris not drawn his attention to it, Filch probably wouldn't even have noticed it.

"Argh, another Hogwarts student…" he snorted. "Let's see… not that I'm interested, but…"

He walked up to the parchment book and his eyes widened in surprise as he read the name the quill had written.

"Impossible! That kid's a squib! A squib like me!" he gasped. "But this damned book is always right!" he kicked the wooden dais the book was standing on. "Damned, damned book!" fury had obscured his vision and mind, all he could do was tear his own hair… and that particular page of the book. "Wretched book!" he shouted, crumpling the paper, tearing it into little pieces. "Damn…"

"Filch! What – are – you - doing?"

Argus turned around, panting, to see professor Snape standing at the doorframe. "I…"

"I only asked you to clean up the room, Filch, not to make a racket… what were you doing?" Severus entered, seeing madness in the eyes of the caretaker. "You've torn out a page of the parchment book? Why?"

Filch still didn't answer – he was speechless with anger.

"_Reparo_!" Severus pointed his wand at the torn pieces of paper lying on the ground. The page immediately became whole again and flew back into the book, attaching itself seamlessly, as though it never had been ripped out of it. "Now I aminterested what got you this riled up." the Potions teacher said, stepping to the book.

His eyes widened in surprise. "How could this be possible? That child was born a squib!"

"That's it!" Filch nodded eagerly, his fists clenched. "You have no idea how happy I was when I got to know that the great Harry Potter had a squib for a son!" he shouted like a man possessed. "It was the most wonderful day of my life!!! And now… I can't believe it! I can't accept it!" he kicked into the dais again. "Life's so damn unfair!"

"Calm down, Filch. I need to think." Snape said, looking at the line the quill had written:

_Daniel Leonard Potter, born 5th April, 2000, parents: Harry James Potter and Virginia Potter_

"Curious… most curious." he whispered. "Why did the quill write _today_ as the day of birth when that child was born last summer? And how did he become a wizard all of a sudden?" he wrinkled his nose in disgust.  "Ah, another Potter I will have to teach..." 

* * * * *

Harry was gazing at the woman in awe. She was beautiful, and somehow resembled his Ginny. "Who… who are you?"

The red-haired woman didn't answer – she was standing there in the water, her clothes and hair wet, staring at her hands, feeling her face… clearly unable to speak.

Harry saw that she was in no condition to start talking, so he walked up to her and offered her his hand. She accepted it and let him drag her out of the lake and wrap her into his pogrebin-fur coat.

"Thank you." she whispered finally.

"You're welcome." he smiled at her. "Who are you?"

"I'm… I'm…"

"Desideria!" a voice shouted from behind them. They turned around to see Aaron running in their direction with an enraptured expression on his face. As he reached them, he closed the woman into a firm embrace, now sobbing aloud. "Des… oh, Des, I was told you were dead! Where have you been all along?"

"A… Aaron…" she stammered, clinging to him like a drowning man would cling to the lifeline. "Oooooh, Aaron…" she was also crying, her tears mingling with the water dripping down her cheeks. "You wouldn't… wouldn't believe when I told you…"

"What? What, dear?"

"Your brother… cursed me." she sniffed. "Because I turned him down. He turned me into… a goldfish and condemned me to live in this lake until the end of times..."

"But then… how? How have you come back?" her husband asked, holding her tight.

"This young man here," Desideria pointed at Harry, "freed me."

"Me?" Harry blinked. "How?"

"I was… condemned to live as a goldfish and fulfil wishes… until someone caught me who was devoid of selfishness…. someone who wished for the happiness of others, not for his own… I had already given up hope… I started to believe that no such person existed… then came you." she smiled at Harry. "Thank you. Thank you for having being so generous… your love for your children and friends freed me as well… and gave me back to my Aaron." she turned back to her husband. "Really… how can you still be alive after… eleven centuries?"

"It's a long story, my dear. Let me tell it later. Now we've got to get you into dry clothes." as they left for the castle, Harry felt some incredible warmth engulf his heart. Another couple he helped to happiness… the thought made him feel very, very satisfied. Almost satisfied enough to forget about his lost powers that he'd never get back anymore…

"What? You were living in the lake as a fish?" Hermione gaped as they listened to Desideria's tale in the staff room. 

"And you were fulfilling wishes?" Ron interjected. "One just had to catch you and you did whatever he told you?"

"Yes." Desideria nodded.

"And Harry freed you…" Ginny whispered, tears in her eyes. "He freed you by being selfless…"

"I still can't believe that Harry saved my life!" Aberforth shook his head. "Great boy. Wonderful friend."

"And professor Lupin's back to normal?" Fred cut in. "No werewolf anymore?"

"No werewolf anymore." the ex-fish nodded. 

"Harry really should have told us about you, you know." Ron said. "I could have done with three wishes…"

"Yeah…" George nodded. "First of all: you should have wished for children with Hermione's nose."

The staff room erupted with laughter – the only one who wasn't laughing was Viktor Krum. He was still hopelessly in love with Hermione – just as hopelessly as Draco loved Ginny.

"I just don't understand why Harry didn't tell us about the three wishes." George said.

"He didn't want any of you to know that it was he who helped…" Desideria said, turning to Aberforth. "He didn't even want you to know that he saved your life by using his first wish."

"Too modest, our Harry." Fred perceived.

Ginny soon excused herself and headed upstairs.

She found Harry in their room, sitting on the windowsill.

"A sickle for your thoughts." she said.

He looked at her, his eyes full of emotions. "Strange… life's so strange, isn't it, Gin?"

"Why?" she sat down next to him.

"Well… everything seems to happen to us." he looked out onto the park. The remaining patches of snow glittered in the moonlight. 

"That's true." she nodded, taking his hand. "But not only bad things happen to us. At the end everything turns all right."

"Yeah." he replied with a sad smile. "At least our family hasn't fallen apart. We are together again… forever."

"Yes, and we'll grow old together, seeing our fifteen children, forty-seven grandchildren and one hundred and one great-grandchildren around us." she grinned and kissed him on the cheek.

"Hm… fifteen kids? Isn't that a bit too much?"

"Fourteen, then." she snuggled her face into his shoulder. 

"And all of them witches and wizards." Harry added. "No worrying anymore."

"It was your third wish, right?" Harry nodded. "I wouldn't have minded if all of my kids had been Muggles, as long as you're their father." she said. 

"You were of another opinion last summer." he reminded her.

"A lot happened since then, Harry. And I've realised that magic isn't everything. Love is what really counts, and not magic abilities."

He kissed the top of her head. "I'm happy that you think so, Gin… Oh, I can't wait to see Lily and Dan again!"

"Neither can I. Mum hopefully took good care of them." she smiled.

"Your mother?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "I thought Sirius was taking care of them."

"No. Dad took the kids to the Burrow, because Sirius was away, as usual. I hadn't seen much of him before coming here…" 

"I wonder where he was going all the time…" Harry added.

"To Hogsmeade, so I heard." she shrugged. "But why…?"

"Hogsmeade?" Harry chuckled. "Then I think I _know_ why he spent so much time there…"

Before going to bed they packed their things for the journey back to England.

They were to go to St. Petersburg by floo, then Arthur and the twins would apparate home. Hermione and Ginny, being pregnant, didn't want to risk apparating, so they, Ron and Harry were to travel by the Muggle train to France, then take the ferry over the La Manche.

Ginny packed Harry's suitcase, telling him that he'd only wrinkle his clothes if he packed them and he didn't oppose. She could do it better, after all. He kept pulling his things out of the wardrobe, handing them to his wife who placed them neatly into the suitcase. When he had emptied almost all of his drawers, his hand felt something under a pack of underwear. Something smooth and long. His wand.

He pulled it out of the drawer with a sigh, swirling it in his hands. When Ginny saw what he was holding, she stepped to him, embracing him from behind. He was grateful for her gesture, still he felt a bit of emptiness… as though his heart had also been emptied just like the drawers.

"Put… put this to the others." he handed the wand to Ginny. "It'll be a nice relic…"

* * * * *

Next morning the Weasleys and the Potters said goodbye to the people staying at Durmstrang. Ginny was happy to be going back to her children, the twins were excited to see Angelina (yes, both of them!), and Arthur barely could wait to see Molly and their grandchildren. Hermione had misgivings about going home now - she had had promised McGonagall to play her chaperone until the end of the tournament, after all.

"Just go, Hermione." Aberforth grinned at her. "Minnie doesn't need you to take care of her anymore… now she's got me!"

Minerva turned slightly pink and chuckled. "Go, Hermione. Really. You need a rest after all that has happened. Go home and take care of yourself and your babies."

"Professor McGonagall is right, dear." Ron put an arm around Hermione's shoulder. "As soon as we get home, you'll start attending St. Mungo's PHD."

"PhD?" she knitted her eyebrows.

"Pregnancy-Health Department." Ron replied. "It just opened a couple of months ago but it's already highly successful. All pregnant witches go there to learn useful stuff like anti-morning sickness potions, painkilling charms…"

"I wish I had attended such a department with my first two pregnancies." Ginny grinned. "But I still might do so now. I'll need to prepare for the triplets." she placed her hands on her stomach. "I still can't believe it… three kids at once…"

"You'll believe it when the whole Black Manor will be echoing with baby-cries and you won't know which way to turn – to change their nappies first, to heat their breakfast milk or to call a doctor to your hubby who had already gone mad." George commented.

"What promising prospects." Ginny wrinkled her nose. "I guess we'll have to hire one or two additional house-elves, or we won't manage everything around all the five kids. As for you, George, it's easy to say stuff like this, you're going to foist your child on Fred."

"Not entirely." George replied. "We've discussed it and decided to share the paternal duties."

"And what do you think Angelina will say to this?" Ginny crossed her arms.

"Well… she'll be lucky, of course, to have both of us." George winked at her and picked up his luggage.

"You first, Fred." Arthur instructed and Fred stepped into the flames, shouting '_The Dancing Bear_!'.

By the time Harry reached down to the staff-room fireplace, Arthur and the Weasley boys plus Hermione had already left. He, as a judge, could have stayed at Durmstrang, but lacking his magic abilities he saw no point in staying. On the other hand, he felt way too worn after the past weeks' events. He needed some peace. He decided to come back for the third task – by train to St. Petersburg and floo to the castle. But the third task wasn't until June…

"Professor McGonagall… Aberforth…" he dropped his luggage as Minerva pulled him into a motherly embrace, then the old wizard caught his hand and started shaking it.

"Take care, Mr. Potter… and you also take care of him, Ginny!" Minerva said, tears brimming her eyes.

"I will." Ginny smiled, then stepped into the flames. "Good bye!"

"Take care kid, promise me that you'll take care!" Aberforth kept shaking Harry's hand, tears in his eyes.

"I will, Aberforth. You also take care of yourself and of the professor." he grinned at McGonagall who was crumpling a handkerchief. "Okay, I'm going."

As he stepped to the fireplace to shout '_The Dancing Bear_', he heard someone call his name.

He turned around curiously to see a panting Aaron burst into the staff room, followed by his wife who was clutching a stitch in her side.

"Haaa-aaarry…" Aaron gasped for breath. "Thank… thank goodness you're still here… How could you think of going… without… saying good-bye to us?"

"I thought you two were quite… er… occupied with each other now…" Harry shrugged. "You have to make up for the lost time… a whole millennium."

"We really have been occupied… but not with _that_." Desideria panted. "We… we wanted to give you a gift, Harry."

"A gift?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "It's not my birthday."

"We… want to give you something… a thank-you-gift." Aaron said.

"Yes." his wife nodded. "We would like to show our gratitude for giving us back to each other, Harry."

"But…" Harry tried to protest.

"There's not 'but'." Aaron cut in. "Let us explain. Desideria and I… we are quite powerful wizards… our strength lies in our unity. Back when we had been together, we were invincible. There was nothing we couldn't do and there was no one who could harm us. My brother, however, managed to separate us by cunning and lies… separated we weren't nearly as powerful as we had been together. Anor's evilness broke the old magic that united Desideria and me. However, last night we restored it. We didn't sleep a single minute…" Harry looked at the couple's faces – they really looked worn and they both had shadows under their eyes. However, some ethereal light was blazing in their eyes now – a light that hadn't been there the previous evening.

"I see." he nodded. "So you're… united in magic again. That's really… cool."

"Cool?" Aaron blinked. "I fear I don't know this expression."

"I meant…I was happy for your happiness." Harry replied.

 "Happiness is exactly what we feel now." Desideria smiled at him. "And we want to give you a bit of our happiness."

Harry frowned. Transferable happiness? He had never heard of such a thing. Was it something like the Cheering Charm? "I fear… I don't understand."

Aaron and Desideria looked at each other, huge smiles spreading on their faces. Harry looked from one to the other, unable to comprehend their expressions. They looked as though they were communicating through a mind-link. He watched as they flipped their wands, touching their tips together, and muttered and incantation: '_restituo vium magicae'_. The touching tips of their wands emitted a huge, sparkling, white-hot ball that seemed to have been made of liquid crystal or translucent snowflakes… it was dazzlingly beautiful.

Only by seeing this inexplicably scintillating orb of light, Harry felt happiness flood into his heart – happiness he had never felt before… although the sparkling substance hadn't even touched him. 

Aberforth and McGonagall were also watching the process in awe, Minerva grasping her fiancé's hand as Aaron and Desideria slowly lifted their joined wands, pointing them at Harry.

It all happened in the blink of an eye: the blinding white light changed from an orb into a comet and whooshed into Harry's body. In the same instant the black-bearded wizard and his redheaded wife disappeared. They must have been really very powerful wizards if they could leave Durmstrang's anti-apparition area just like that.

Minerva gasped and ran to Harry who had gone unconscious and was lying on the hearth-rug before the crackling flames of the fireplace.

"Mr. Potter! Harry!" she shrieked, patting his face gently, trying to bring him around.

"Kid!" Aberforth shouted into Harry's ear with such a force that he awoke with a jolt.

"What?" he looked around in bewilderment. "What happened? Where are Aaron and his wife?"

"They're gone." Minerva said. "But they… they did something to you…"

"Yeah…" Harry felt his head. "They probably hit me with a wooden club… ooooh…" he sat up, feeling dizzy.

Suddenly someone came through the fireplace, landing in his lap.

"Ginny!" he yelled. "Why have you come back?"

"Harry!" she flung herself on his neck, sobbing.

"What happened?" he pulled away just enough to be able to see her face. "What…?"

"Harry!" she held up her right hand. "Look!"

"Look? What?" he frowned.

"The ring!"

Harry's eyes widened. The gem in Ginny's ring was glowing again. He looked down at his own hand – his gem was also alight.

This could mean only one thing: he was a wizard again.

**A/N2**: there. Are you happy now? I hope so :)

Do not ask how Aaron and his wife could have given Harry back his powers – let's just say they're really damn powerful and – as I have mentioned – there's nothing they cannot do if they are united. Hm, somehow I've always liked the proverb 'unity is strength'.

The original title of this chapter was "Seeing the light" (it would have referred to the light in the gems), but in the last minute I changed it to Return of the wizard, as a tribute to Return of the Jedi :)

Desideria means 'wish' or 'desire' in Latin, that's why I chose it for Aaron's wife – the goldfish was fulfilling wishes, after all. As far as I remember there was also an Italian fairy tale called 'Princess Desideria and the ring of the dragon' or something.  

Restituo vium magicae = to restore the magic powers (though my Latin is still not too good, so sorry if it's grammatically incorrect)

Just two more chapters – next chapter: Dursleys!


	38. A Dursley family gettogether

A/N: thanks for all the reviews, people! 

_J_: you wrote: "I appreciate the fact that you write according to what your readers want." Hehe, don't be so sure about it. In the third story I'll be writing tons of things that my readers won't be happy about. I'm evil, LOL :)

_C-chan:_ sorry, I haven't read Ella enchanted.

_Aretha:_ uh, sorry? I didn't understand what you wanted. Did you mean that my fic was NC17 (which is definitely not), or did you want me to read that other fic called Relief comes like a flock of bird? I really didn't understand what you wanted.

_rebkos_: what? Harry a limpet? A limpet is a sea-shell like creature, isn't it?

_princesswitch_: I don't think you could marry a story :))

_Incubo Artistico_: Ginny performed the anti-conceptus charm four days after she got pregnant with Lily, so she was kind of late with it and could no more prevent the pregnancy. She only became a Parselmouth weeks after Lily was born.

_KristenMichelle_: yes, getting pregnant with Lily was an unfortunate accident and had nothing to do with the Parseltongue thing (because Ginny hadn't been one back then)

_Jeanine23Dr:_ no, I'm not naming the triplets anything like marie jose, don't worry. Read my answer to Black Ice (below). You asked why I didn't get an msn messenger. Truth be told I don't have time for it. Once in a while I chat on ICQ, but only when I have more than 20 minutes to spend online – and I usually don't have time to be online more than 20-25 minutes. All the time I spend online I browse on ffnet and schnoogle and gryffindortower, so there's no time left for chatting. Sorry. We can still exchange emails, I can write those offline.

_Eclectus:_ you know, too many people keep telling me to go to schnoogle, but last week I read the terms of use there and didn't understand a word of that law-rubbish. So I guess I don't even stand a chance to archive my fics there. But at least they will be archived on gryffindortower, as I said above :) There will be only one other kid named after a movie character – Ron and Herm will have a son called Rupert. But Rupert won't have more than 4 lines in the whole story #3. Aaron and Desideria are happily living in Azgard and they'll be back for the last chapter. No, Ginny won't have 15 kids, she was just joking – there's something called condom, you know :)) No, I haven't heard of the Chinese Cinderella.

_maureen:_ what? You have a withdrawal when I'm not posting? And you are waiting for the updates of this fic more than for book five? I can't believe it! (But I'm happy and flattered:)

_zzxm_: the exact words of Harry's third wish was "make all my descendants be magic." About Dan's birthday – Harry will give an explanation in the final chapter.

_Nefertiri:_ yes, it was me who made Sirius fall in love with Rosmerta. Thanks for the encouragement, your opinion means a lot to me.

_Black Ice:_ I already have names for the triplets: Robert, Richard and Rose. I've liked the name Robert ever since I saw the Onedin Line (I guess you haven't seen it, but Robert was a silly guy who always made me laugh, and the triplets will also be funny). Richard is IMHO a beautiful name – it reminds me of Richard the Lionheart, and that is an appropriate name for a Potter. Rose is just cute and I like Titanic :)

_NuttyBuddy:_ yes, rest assured that the next book will be damn long. The average chapter-length will be two, three and even four times longer than in this story.

_apple-pie_: welcome in the SW fanclub! Don't be sad about the fic ending! You can give me your email-address and I'll notify you when the next story comes out.

_aurora riddle_: don't worry, the length of your reviews is just perfect :)

_Lupin's Angel_: "Five points to Gryffindor" – said professor AgiVega.

_MauiGoddess3_: I don't know when I'll start posting the third fic. It'll take me a while to finish the story, I'm only around the 3/4 of it and the hardest part is yet to come. Unfortunately I'm very busy with schoolwork so I can't write quick enough. I'm glad you liked my new drawing. 

_K. C. Hunter_: feel free to name Sirius's sister's friend after me and in case the story's not too long, tell me what the title is – I'm interested in it. I don't think anyone has named a character after me before :) So, you thought that the last chapter had a bit of light? Well, then this one will have a lot of it! The third story will seem to be much more light-hearted than this one, but only at the beginning. It will turn dark later, so be prepared.

_Rab:_ yes, Harry and Ginny will have more kids after the triplets, but definitely less than 15 :) It was April in the last chapter, but in this one you'll see that it's already June. The final chapter will take place in December.    

_starheart_: read my answer to Eclectus (above). I hope you're feeling better.    

_X-Tow-Naga_: H and G will be using condoms, because I don't want to subject them to something as drastic as an operation. I hate operations, yuck! 

_romina:_ the next story will have about 30 chapters, but I'm only on the 24th.

_Kit Cloudkicker_: Filch was mad because he had been happy about Harry having a squib for a son just like he was, and the fact that Harry's son became magic while he didn't, riled him up. He wasn't even thinking when he started tearing the book.

_Hermione Weasley_: there will not be a weird plot twist, but there will be some 'upsetting and unnerving the reader' in the last chapter.

_Blondie in Disguise:_ read my answer to romina (above)

_Lizzie:_ what happened to Sirius? Well, he's been going out with Madame Rosmerta.

_Pamela-potter-24_: what? You have read this story BEFORE The greatest scandal? Weird! Read my answers to Eclectus, Black Ice and NuttyBuddy.

_LilGinny: _oh my, have I ignored you last time? It wasn't deliberate, believe me! I'm glad you liked my drawings on gryffindortower! But they aren't the best there, IMHO Lisa Rourke's are the best (well, most of them, though I don't really like her Quidditch Harry). I could never draw like her, she's very talented. Read my answer to Black Ice. 

_Any last requests_: what is a Hazmeister? ('haz' in Hungarian means 'house' and 'meister' in German means 'master', but I don't know what the two together mean.)

_SiriDragon_: I'm glad that I managed to write something touching. No, Aaron and his wife didn't go into Harry, they just left Durmstrang for their home: Azgard. You'll see them in next chapter again.

_Crazycutee831_: yes, the next story will take place 11 years after this one and it will be focusing on Daniel at Hogwarts. There will be lots of Potter and Weasley kids (and even other kids with family names that I'm not telling now, but you can guess them from this chapter and the next one :))

_star queen_: Sirius will have about two lines in the last chapter. 

Also thanks to: _Kamatazi Yumi, Katie Bell, The-Girl-Who-Lived, Lana Riddle, Houou, jen, White Raven, VWW, PadmeSkywalker, AmandaPanda_, _Elfangor 19, goldenstar555, princess Ginny, TaMaraR, Arif, Lady Python, 2Coolio, Alexander Phoenix, sk8reagle, twinkle toes, Sherylyn, fan  _

Chapter 38 A Dursley family get-together 

_15th June_

"Happy Birthday, Dudley!" Millicent cooed, giving her husband a smacking kiss on the cheek. 

"Happy birthday!" added Harry and Ginny.

"Make a wish!" Millicent said. Dudley looked contemplative for a while, then bent down and blew away the candles on his cake.

As they were sitting on blankets in the garden of the young Dursley couple, eating the cake, Harry couldn't help but wonder the irony of life.

Here was Dudley who had hated him for seventeen years and whom he had hated for the same length of time. Now Dudley did not only NOT hate him, but he even invited him and Ginny to his birthday-party, held in family circle. No one else had been invited, but the Potters. *Had Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon known that their son invited me and them not, they'd surely freak out.* Harry thought, watching as their little Lily was playing with David Dursley. They seemed to have befriended each other, which was good – they'd be going to Hogwarts together, after all.

A Dursley at Hogwarts… what a thought!

"…and how exactly have you managed to lose so much weight, Millicent?" Ginny asked, reaching for a second helping of cake. She was constantly hungry – she was eating for four.

"Oh…" Millicent chuckled. The change to her body was particularly conspicuous on her face that had become thinner and considerably prettier. "You remember that unfortunate event at Harry's birthday party… with Gilderoy Lockhart?" Ginny nodded. "Well… it wasn't that unfortunate, after all. Dudley lost seventy kilos… and Lockhart got so self-confident that he included this type of slimming method into the services of his beauty salon. Now it's running better than ever, and there's barely a fat witch left in Great Britain. All of them are going to his salon and get slimmed. I did it, too. Your mother… I think she should also consider…"

"My mother's okay the way she is." Ginny said. "Dad loves her that way. There's something to grope on her, you know…"

Millicent giggled. "More tart?"

"Yes, please." Ginny nodded.

"Dear." Harry cut in. "Three slices were just enough. You'll get fat if you continue eating like this."

"Oh, come on, Harry, I'll go to Lockhart's if needed!" she replied.

"No way!" Harry laughed. "I'm not letting Gilderoy near you!"

"Sorry, but she'll be near him… he's also invited along with his wife." Dudley replied. "It seems I have forgotten to mention this to you…"

"What? Gilderoy's coming here?" Harry was surprised.

"By the way, speaking about Lockhart, have you heard that he and Anck-sun-Amun finally got married?" Millicent asked.

"Have they?"

"Er… they had to." Dudley smirked. "The baby's coming."

"Oh… that poor, poor child!" Harry shook his head. "I can already see him in my mind's eye: blue eyes, long, curly blonde hair and the firm belief that he's the centre of the universe."

"Maybe he'll take after his mother." Ginny suggested. "I just hope that Percy's child WON'T take after his father."

"Percy Weasley? He's going to be a father?" Millicent asked, watching the children out of the corner of her eye.  

"Yeah… unfortunately." Harry sighed. "Since we returned to England in April, we haven't heard anything else from him, but singing praises of his future son, who, in his opinion, is going to be the next Minister for Magic."

"It'd be a sad day for Great Britain's wizarding community when someone with Percy's qualities sat into the chair of the Minister." Ginny sighed. "Lily, where are you going?" she called after her daughter, who didn't seem to have heard her. Little Lily Potter was following Davie in the direction of the garden's gate. Two people were standing there, peering into the garden. Ginny nudged Harry, who looked up, squinting in the early afternoon sunshine. Even with the sun blurring his vision, Harry managed to recognise the two figures.

Vernon and Petunia Dursley.

"Hey!" Harry nudged Dudley, making him look at the gate.

Dudley stood up, frowning. "What do they want here?"

"Maybe they want to congratulate on your birthday." Millicent shrugged, also standing up, smoothing her short skirt that fitted her lithe figure perfectly. She took her husband's hand and they walked to the Dursley parents.

As Harry watched them walk away from him and Ginny, he had to admit that they looked extremely good together: both slim, Dudley handsome (in Ginny's opinion downright sexy in his tight-fitting jeans) and Millicent also much nicer than she had been earlier. 

Harry helped his wife off the ground and they stared at the people standing by the fence. They were too far to see Vernon and Petunia's faces or hear their voices, but Harry was sure that something… emotional was going on between the Dursley parents and the younger Dursley couple. 

He saw that Dudley opened the gate, letting his parents in, and Petunia immediately crouched down and snatched up Davie, holding him tight. From the clearly visible shaking of her body Harry presumed that she was crying.

Dudley motioned his parents to the house.

As Vernon and Petunia reached the Potters, Vernon gave Harry an annoyed look.

"Hullo, Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia."

Mr. Dursley's moustache twitched, as if he was trying to convince his mouth not to answer, but Dudley gave him a rather nasty look, so he eventually forced out a short hello.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Dursley." Ginny also greeted them.

"Your wife, eh?" Vernon knitted his eyebrows.

"Yes. She's Ginny." Harry smiled, putting an arm around her.

"And this is your daughter." Vernon pointed at Lily, who looked rather miffed by the fact that Petunia was holding his new friend in her arms, keeping him out of Lily's reach.

"Yes, she is." Harry nodded.

That was the first time Petunia looked down at the little girl – and she gasped in surprise, almost dropping Davie.

"Lily!" she breathed.

"Yeah, that's her name." Ginny nodded.

"No… I mean_… Lily Evans_." Petunia stammered. "My… sister." she knelt down, putting her son on the grass. "Lily…" she suddenly reached out and gathered the small girl into an embrace. Lily did not like this.

"Mummy!" she squealed for Ginny, who gently peeled Petunia's arms off her daughter.

"My gosh…" Petunia stood up. "She is the spitting image of her… incredible…"

"Yeah, sure, incredible." Vernon snorted. "And she's just as abnormal as your sister, I presume!"

"Don't dare insult my daughter!" Harry growled at his uncle. "I have taken all the abuses from you for sixteen years, I put up with your whims all along, I endured the mistreatment without a word… but I'm not letting you call my daughter abnormal!"

"Let's… move into the house, shall we?" Millicent cut in, seeing that the situation was becoming aggravated. 

Petunia scooped her little son up again and everyone headed for the house.

"What about the cake?" Dudley asked.

Harry looked around to make sure that no neighbours were looking, then pulled out his wand, pointing it at the tablecloth with the cake and all the food, that immediately rose into the air and whooshed into the house.

Vernon gasped for breath, clutching at his heart. "How… how dare you… in front of me?"

"You're right, I shouldn't do magic in front of normal Muggles, uncle, but you do not count." Harry grinned at him and entered the house.

Soon they all sat down in the living room, Ginny holding Lily (who was still shocked by having been embraced by such an ugly old 'hag' like Petunia) and Petunia holding Davie (who got bored of this ugly old hag and started crying for Millicent).

"I see you have nicely furnished the house." Vernon stated, looking around. "No signs of your abnormality…" he added contentedly, examining the curtains closer. "What funny material is this?" he caught it with his hands, feeling it. It felt oddly cold.

"Snow." Millicent shrugged.

"Snow? In June?" Vernon furrowed his brow, letting go of the curtain as if it had not been cold, but extremely hot. "M…magic, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is." Dudley nodded. "And I think it looks cool. Harry's wife has just taught Milli how to make curtains of snowflakes."

Petunia wrinkled her nose, but she had to admit that it looked pretty. Ginny had learnt this charm from Aaron back at Durmstrang. Since Aaron and Desideria had given Harry's powers back, they had been living in Azgard. They had sent seagulls to all of their friends (that far in the North no owls were available), telling them about their happiness, and – to Hermione's surprise – they had sent her wand back to her. Aberforth, McGonagall and Krum also got their wands back through seagull-post after Aaron found them in Anor's room.

Aaron also promised Dennis in a mail that he and his wife would visit him in Great Britain over the summer. Dennis got so excited by the news that he wasn't properly paying attention to the final task of the Triwizard Tournament, when they had to save polar bears from ice-floes. (This task was to be carried out on a deserted coast of the Finnish Bay because Durmstrang's lake wasn't big enough for it). Of course the champions' way to the bears was made dangerous by various obstacles and vicious – though half-frozen – merpeople. Dennis got into a bit of trouble with a rather ugly mermaid, while Guillaume slipped on an ice-floe and fell into the water. This way Mileta won the third task, and by two points she overtook Dennis, winning the tournament as well. Dennis became the second and the French boy the third. Dennis, however, didn't mind that he hadn't won. He was happy enough about Mileta's happiness. 

"Ze only reazon why Mileta won is zat Durmstrang is ze 'ost school. Last time 'Ogwarts won because zey were ze 'osts." Guillaume declared after the third task. "Next time Beaxbatons will be ze 'ost and we shall win."

"Of course, because someone else will be the Beaxbatons champion then, not you." Dennis grinned, taking Mileta by the hand, leading her away from the miffed French boy and the rather furious Madame Maxime, who took it as personal insult that it was the second time that Beaxbatons' champion got the fewest points in the tournament.

Harry, who had returned to Durmstrang for a single day to judge at the third task, tried to console Olympe.

She, however, was inconsolable. "It iz time zat Rubeus and me had a child." she said. "Then our child will be a Beaxbatons student and when ze times comes he'll become a champion and beat 'Ogwarts and Durmstrang."

Harry tried to picture a half-giant champion and thought that it'd be a bit of an unfair advantage, but he didn't voice his opinion, only nodded. "I also think you and Hagrid should have a baby, Madame Maxime. He'd be a terrific father." in thought he added: *I just would like to see any babysitter dealing with a baby who weighs 30 kilos at birth.*

All in all, the tournament ended all right, and McGonagall didn't look a bit sad that Dennis didn't win. She was simply too delighted about being with Aberforth to feel sad.

Harry was overjoyed to see the old couple being so happy, and he also felt relieved that young Creevey and Ms. Krum also got on so well with each other. He only felt sorry for Viktor, who was still alone. He strongly hoped that one day Viktor'd overcome his hopeless love for Hermione… and he also hoped that one day Draco would also forget Ginny.

"Dear?" Ginny's voice shook Harry out of reveries.

"Huh?" Harry looked around, realising that he was still in Dudley's house.

"Millicent was asking you about the upcoming match." his wife replied.

"Oh, that…" Harry nodded. "Well… what do you want to know about it?"

"Are you nervous?" was Millicent's first question.

"Um… a bit. Neville's become a darn good Seeker. He's surely going to give me quite a workout."

"I have faith in you, dear." Ginny kissed him on the cheek. "Neville's no better than you."

"Maybe not… but no worse than me, either. I have seen him play Quidditch…"

"Squid ditch?" aunt Petunia asked.

"Quidditch." Harry, Ginny and Millicent answered in unison.

"Is that… that… world cup thing, isn't it?" Vernon growled.

"Ah, what good memory you have, uncle." Harry smiled. 

"Um, dad…" Dudley cut in to turn the conversation off magic. "You still haven't told us why you're here. To wish me happy birthday, or what? You haven't even brought presents! How unusual…"

"We wanted to…" Petunia said, "…but your father's new company car doesn't have a boot big enough for all your forty-one presents, dear."

"Forty-one?" Dudley gaped. "But mum… dad… I have grown up, you know… I'm not that same old Duddy who got hysteric if he didn't get enough presents. I'm an adult now, and…" his voice faltered, "…having you here is enough of a present for me."

"Oh, Duddy!" Petunia jumped up to gather her 'little' son into her arms. "Duddy, forgive us, please!"

"Mum… it's not me who you should ask for forgiveness." Petunia looked at Millicent. "No, not even Milli. It's David."

His mother let go of him, sobbing. "Oh, Duddy… you have no idea what I felt like when I realised that Davie was gone… of course I knew that you two took him, still… I felt terrible… and your father, too." she looked at Vernon, who was pretending to be looking out the window and not listening. "He denied it, of course… but he still missed him. That's… that's why we're here now." she glanced at her younger son, who was chasing Lily around the table. "We want him back."

"What?" Millicent gasped. "No way!" she bent down and scooped up the little boy, who started to throw a tantrum, demanding to be put down. Millicent, however, didn't release him. She was clutching him so tightly as if fearing that Petunia would simply tear him out of her hands.

"I agree with Milli." Dudley said. "You two will never understand and like magic, mum. Neither you, nor dad understand it, and you still hate it, admit it. You'd always have problems with Davie doing unintentional magic, you know. You're too old and always so nervous… you just couldn't control a wizard child. Remember how much you freaked out when Davie made the cake fly… and that was only the beginning. This little tyke here has more magic in himself than you'd possibly imagine."

"But… Diddy!" Petunia yelled. "He's MY SON!"

"But I'm his mother!" Millicent retorted. "I can understand him and control his magic activities until he goes to Hogwarts. You cannot, Petunia. I have been his mother for almost a year, and I'm not giving him back to you now!"

"He is our son!" Vernon rumbled. "My son!"

Dudley straightened his back – this way looking much taller than his father – and said: "For you he'd always remain an abnormal little being! No matter how much you'd love him, you'd never be able to treat him normally! You get sick whenever you have to utter the word 'magic'! How could you bring him up properly, huh? Anyway, you had your chance with him, but you forfeited it. Now Millie and I are Davie's parents. You, of course, may come and visit him whenever you want, but only as his… grandparents."

"Grandparents?" Petunia blanched. "Me? A grandmother?" she clutched at her chest.

Harry grinned at Ginny – they were thoroughly enjoying themselves.

"I guess we'd better leave, honey." Harry said. "Let them deal with this on their own… hehe… grandma Petunia…"

Ginny took Lily into her arms, and – after giving the outraged Dursley parents a last glance – they walked out to the door.

However, they couldn't exit, because at the door they practically bumped into two familiar figures.

"Gilderoy!" Harry said.

"Oh, Harry boy!" Lockhart pulled him into a firm embrace. "How nice to see you again!"

"Yeah, very nice." Harry entangled himself from the other wizard's arms. "Ah, hello, Sunny."

"Hi, Harry." Anck-sun-Amun smiled at him. He felt himself blushing a bit – Sunny had once been head over heals in love with him.

"Oh, Gilderoy! Sunny! Do come in, please!" Millicent hopped up from the sofa, put Davie down and hurried to the door. "And you two, Harry and Ginny, you aren't planning to leave yet, are you?"

Harry gave his wife a questioning look, then they shrugged and returned into the living room.

The Lockharts followed them and took place in an armchair that was big enough for both of them. They greeted the older Dursley couple who only nodded, both of them eyeing the newcomers with suspicion. Petunia was holding her younger son again – she had scooped him up right after Millicent put him down.

"Your present." Gilderoy handed a pink-wrapped package to Dudley.

Dudley opened the gift that contained a big box full of sky-blue flasks with the emblem of a pair of sapphire blue eyes that kept winking. All flasks had the script _GLBS, AAT, _and_ for Men_ on them. Dudley opened one of the bottles. "After shave?" he smelled it.

"After shave, cleansing lotion, scrub, hair gel, moisturising lotion, body conditioning creme,  rehydrating toner, recovering night creme, tea-tree oil, spray and everything." Gilderoy said, beaming. For the first time in his life Harry saw Gilderoy in his element. This was really what he was destined for: to run a beauty shop and sell cosmetics with his own name on them.

"Er, thanks, Gilderoy, they're cool." Dudley said with forced smile.

Harry saw that Anck-sun-Amun was fighting with her facial muscles to stay indifferent but she was on the verge of bursting out laughing.

"Er… may I ask what these abbreviations stand for?" Dudley asked. "GLBS?"

"Gilderoy Lockhart's Beauty Salon, of course!" Gilderoy straightened himself proudly.

"AAT?"

"Against Animal Testing." came the answer. "You know when I first tried to test an aloe propolis creme on a yeti, it gave me a black eye. Since then I've decided to resort from animal testing in my own interest."

"Oh, I thought you felt sorry for those poor animals." Ginny commented.

"Yeah, that too." Lockhart nodded. "Once I tested a new face powder on a doxy who accidentally suffocated from the powder. Poor one…" Gilderoy sniffed and started looking for a tissue in the several pockets of his mauve robes. "Then there was that accident with the unicorn… I used a special tail-hair growing potion on it… and all his tail-hairs fell out! It almost gored me, that unicorn!"

No wonder that Dudley started eyeing his presents with a rather dubious expression.

"I heard you were going to become a father, Gilderoy." Harry said. "Congrats."

"Oh, thanks." the blonde wizards flashed him with a 32 teeth-smile and put an arm around his wife. "Wonderful, isn't it, Sunny? Our son will be the most handsome young wizard ever."

"Or the prettiest witch, you mean." Anck-sun-Amun put a hand on her slightly bulging belly and caressed it. "Really, Millicent, Dudley, aren't you planning to have another baby?" she clearly didn't know that little David was Dudley's brother, not his son.

"Well…" Dudley looked at his mother who was clutching Davie. "We might have another baby some time, but for the time being our son is just enough."

"Oh, I see." Sunny nodded. "A child means a really great responsibility. Good that your son has such a caring grandma and grandpa." she smiled at Petunia and Vernon, assuming that they were Dudley's parents. She didn't understand why Petunia turned as white as a sheet and why Vernon's face turned a nasty shade of blackcurrant. "Really, Ginny is it true that you're having triplets?"

"Yeah, that's true." Ginny smiled. "I fear I'm going to turn as fat as a whale… but I still could ask your husband to put me right, right?"

"Any time, my sweet." Gilderoy bowed slightly. "After the initial difficulties my slimming charm has become the best you can get in England and on the whole continent. Witches are coming from all parts of Europe just to get slimmed at Gilderoy Lockhart's Beauty Salon!"

"What do you mean by initial difficulties?" Harry asked.

"Oh, you know… when I accidentally turned Dudley slim, I had no idea how I did it. You remember I only wanted him to spit out the slice of cake he was choking on… so I started experimenting and the results weren't exactly spiffing at first…"

"Why, what did you do?" Millicent was curious.

"Oh, you know…" Gilderoy hesitated, "I tried the charm on a rather fat house-elf who volunteered for the tests for one galleon a day… first time I turned him into a troll! A rather fat troll, that is… Then I turned him into a plate of calorie-free fried chicken… well, that was the first step: it was calorie-free at least. After three months of vain experimenting Sunny accidentally found the right charm. Since then this house-elf is the richest elf in Great-Britain. Really, Mr. Dursley," he turned to Vernon, "you could use a bit of my slimming-charm."

"What? Me?" Vernon's eyes widened with fear. "No, thank you!"

"But it's free, just today, just for you!" Gilderoy offered.

"No, thanks." Vernon shook his head with a terrified expression. "I love being fat! But… couldn't you by any chance… turn my wife twenty years younger?"

That was the moment when Petunia gasped, jumped up, dropped David into Millicent's lap and stormed out of the house.

**A/N2:** I know this was short and not exciting at all, but many of you said that you were missing the good ol' Dursleys, and I also wanted to show a bit more of them and of my beloved Gildy.

One more chapter to go and the show's over. You can still leave your email-addresses in the review to get a note when I start uploading the third fic.


	39. Wedding almost at Christmas

A/N: Okay, just a very few notes:

_Lady Python:_ congrats on being my 2500th reviewer for this fic! :)

_GinnyPotter387: _don't worry, I didn't take your review as a flame. Just to remind you: not everyone is pretty and sexy in my story – for example Mileta isn't/wasn't/won't be. But Dennis loved her despite her being unattractive. In my next story there's a female who isn't particularly pretty and she has quite a problem with it, but there's a guy who falls for her, because he sees the beauty in her soul. So, not everyone is beautiful, really! :)

_veronik:_ thanks, my grandpa is feeling better. I hope you are also feeling better. Actually I am going to post my first fic to gryffindortower.net, but chapters will appear quite slowly on the site, because my beta is very busy and cannot work on my story all the time. Actually I have sent her the first chapter two weeks ago but she hasn't corrected it yet. So, which school will Gilderoy's child attend? Well… that's obvious, isn't it? :)

_Elfangor 19_: good work in Hungarian is 'szép munka'.

_Melinda Malfoy_ and _Kim_: I'll try to start uploading the next fic in a month. I'm progressing with it pretty well, 27 chapters are written, another 3-4 to go. 

_C-chan_: no, AgiVega isn't pronounced as Aa-jih-vay-guh. You have to pronounce both 'g's in there like the 'g' in the words 'game' or 'goal'. And the 'vay' part is false, too. It has to be pronounced like 'egg', only with one 'g'. So, but a 'v' before 'egg', take one 'g' away, then add an 'aa' to the end. But the 'i' part was written well, it's like the 'i' in the word 'ink'. Thanks for giving me that link, but I don't really think that there will be eight books. It might be just a hoax (very possibly it is). I could imagine eight books under one condition: if Harry got expelled from Hogwarts and had to attend it for one more year. Then the eight books would make sense. I still don't believe in it. Someone just wanted to make sensation… very Rita Skeeter-like, isn't it? :)

_Sapphire Selia_: certainly Petunia and Vernon could have taken the child back, but Dudley and Millicent explained them why they shouldn't raise David: because they cannot handle a wizard.

_Cee_: gosh, Claire, how nice to see you again! I have just been re-reading all the reviews for TGSoHH (hehe, took me two weeks) and I saw how many times you reviewed for it and was a bit sad that you forgot about me. I'm happy that you finally remembered me! 

_zzxm:_ who is the author of Ella Enchanted? I'm not sure it has been published in Hungary yet, but I'll keep a look-out for it.

_Moony Lover_: the main reason for me making the characters have all the babies is to fill Hogwarts with children for next fic. Well, the triplets won't be at Hogwarts yet, but all other kids born in the first and the second story will be there.

_jennaration_: your email-address is quite funny! Congratulations in Hungarian is 'gratulálok!'

_LilGinny:_ how could I email you when you forgot to give me your email address? I hope your grandpa is feeling better.

_Evil Yellow Day Moon: _why do you find it fascinating that I'm from Hungary? Just wondering… I have been reading a very interesting book on intercultural communications in which I read that many people in Western Europe and the USA think of us Hungarians as barbarians who are illiterate and live in a jungle (which, of course, is totally false). Is it the reason why you found it fascinating that I'm Hungarian and still writing fanfiction? Please, answer me, I'm very interested in the opinion of people of other nationalities – what do they think of us Hungarians? With your answer you could actually help me with studying this particular subject :)

_WolfEyes_: nice to see you again! You had some questions. So, The Kirk is the Scottish church. GCSE means General Certificate of Secondary Education, eisteddfod is a Welsh musical festival. The House of Lords is one of the houses of the British parliament (the other one is the House of Commons). Tories are the conservatives in British politics. The Times is a very popular newspaper, and BBC is a television channel. Last year I had a seminar about Great Britain and even had to take an exam in it, so that's how I know these things. Thanks, my grandpa is feeling better and I feel really fortunate to have had an opportunity to know him. I don't know whether Guillaume means William, but as far as I know it's a typical French name, not a Spanish one.

_Crazycutee831_: no, the third fic isn't written yet. 27 chapters written, another 3-4 to go. Hi in Hungarian is 'szia', bye in Hungarian is 'viszlát'.

_Nefertiri:_ Lily will usually call Ginny mum, but you'll see in the next fic that she'll have a problem with calling Harry 'dad'.

And now: yes, this is the final chapter, people. So, here comes the thank you-section:

First I would like to say thanks to the wonderful J. K. Rowling for having given us Harry Potter.

Secondly: I'd like to thank my supportive mother for betaing this story and suggesting lots of great ideas.

Thirdly: I'd like to thank all my readers for reading and reviewing. 

Here is the list of reviewers who gave feedback for this story at least once and to whom I'm saying thanks (special thanks to my most faithful readers who reviewed at least 15 times – your names are in bold, hopefully ffnet shows it, if not, then sorry): 

**Almah**, **AmandaPanda,** Abbi, **Aurumlupi**, Amen, AniMourner, Angel of Death, Angel Solo, **Apple-pie**, Anna, Ariana Black, Angel kisses, **Aurora Riddle**, Alan Smithy, Amaranta, Artesima, Ari Potter, **Arif,** Agi Vega's Great fan, **Alexander Pheonix**, Alice Dumbledore, Alli, Anigurl88, Aleydis, Agivega*fan, AngelWings, **Aimee**, Analyse, Anonymus, Any last requests, Afromonk, amazing typo, Artistic Nightmare, Alyssa, Aretha F, Alexandra Black, Blue Ice, **Black Ice**, Bache Zeith, Brigade, **Blondie in Disguise**, **Bucky**, **Blaubaerin**, baybee-xoxo, Baby Angel, Baladar, Bienfoy, Bob33, Bexpotter, CandyGurl83, casvv, **Crazycutee831**, Crazy One W.N.E., Caitin22888, Cecile, **Cassandra Anthemyst**, Cherie, Chronicle, Cathy, **Coolio,** Crystaline Blood, Cindy Moon, charleepotter, CaittyLin, chocolate frog, cloudzi, Celtic Ember, chicory tee, Cedric Diggory Fan, Cara, Caroline, Charm, **C-chan**, coolgal4u, Child of Universe, Cressida, Colibi, Dragon Singer, Derkaun Zarion, Dark Faery, Draco's Secret Lover, dujourfan1, Daydream, Devil Moon, Diana levy, denverhockey girl,  Debra T. Lewis, Dana & her cousin Mia, dipstick, Dauphin, em1701e, Evil Monkeys Abuser, Ellifi, Elfangor 19, Emma, Erised Lily, Embyr Black, **Eclectus**, Evil Yellow Day Moon, fan, Faunix, Finnigan, Forgot the Spotz, Fire Cracker Poni, figgiesblazin, Fairy Bubbles, Fairy Tale, **goldenstar555**, Gryffindor Galopper, goodbook3989, **GinnyPotter387, **Ginny house3, Gringotts, Ginny Potter, green smurf, Grizabella, Grungechika, Gala, Girl in the Mirror, Gwen Weasley, Griffle, grambones, Gabernell, **Harrysgirl**, Hermioneqc, Hobbit Feet, Hermione/Nina/Ginny, Helen, HP Blone Crazy Chick, Hanna frankport, Hayley Mills, Hpgoldy Snitch, hahaha, Harry PotterCC1, Heart2Heart, HerbieWerbie, Hedwig, howler109, hogwartsgirl228, Haley Lynn Reynolds, Hollis, Harryismyhero, Hazel Harman, Hermione Weasley, Houou, Heather Fair, Hazel_eyed-fairy, Haley J., Ilovelinkinpart222, Irish Innocence, italianchick54, Irish Immortality, izean, Isis, Infinite Enchantress, Insane Pair of Tennis Shoes, Indigo Ziona, Ice Kitten, Incubo Artistico, jos8, JoeBob1379, Jazz Goddess, **Jeanine23Dr, jennaration**, jenny KT, Julie, Julie Anna Nicholson, Just Push Play, jenna, J-kid, jen, jenny, jo, Jessica, Jaz, Jess, jona, J, **Kit Cloudkicker, Katie Bell**, **Kristen Michelle**, K-K, Kristen, **K. C. Hunter**, Ksiezniczka, Kat, Kara, kitch, Kim, Kamatazi Yumi, kwok, Lionheart Eternal, **LupinsLover**, lizzy, LisaQT3, Leani Lopez, **Lana Potter,** Legolas red wizard of oz shoes, LightningScar, Lilangel_612, Luisa, Lady Cinnibar, Lazzy too Login, **LilGinny**, Luya Tessa Coreena, Lilith Ceridwen, Lilbit, LadyLupin, **Lavendar Brown**, linj, ladyyuy, Laurenna, Lydia Van Buren aka Dear Lydia,  Lady Schezar, Lily Chelstane, Lady Godiva, Lemondrop514, Lady Python, Lana Riddle, Lemona Snicket, **Lupin's Angel**, Liger Zero Schneider, Lyny, limbada-the forbidden dance, Lady Mauricia, **Moony Lover, Mage,** Michelle, mazipoto, **Mikey, Maddy**, Maddie Fidd, muggle, momoko, Morning Twilight, Molto Bella, Mabel Weasley, meenotyou, makulit, Mauve Lipgloss, Myrtle, Midnite Sunrise, magicalmischiefmaker, Melinda Malfoy, Magisch Machen, Myr Halcyon, McKenzie, Megan, 'mione Weasley, MauiGoddess3, Melee, Maureen, music_princess, Nikkianna, Nova Puppy Gurl, **Notebook Girl**, nutmeg, Nicky, **Nefertiri,** **NuttyBuddy**, not fish not duck, Neverwhere, NightmareSweety, nycgal, One-Winged Butterfly, Owl Twrite, obi_ewan_maul_lover, Orange Sulphur, **princesswitch**, PrincezzShortie, **Pumpkin3223**, PUNKsarcasm, **PepsiAngel, phoenix6545**, Paura, Pantalaimon, **PadmeSkywalker**, PeggySue, Potpourri, potter_hal, Pudadingding, Padfoot, Paperdoll58, Pottermouth, Princess Ginny, Pamela-potter-24, Puck, Quahira Galatea, rubyjuls1722, **Rab**, Ro, Ronniekin's Sweetheart, Rose, Rebecca Elizabeth Metz, Romina, Renai, rebkos, reviewer, Rabble, Reala Welana, stargal, spangle star, **spangle*star**, Slytherins R Sexy, **star queen**, saheel001, Sleepy Tee, Stellarsiren, **Super saya-Jin Gotan**, Shalara, Scratches, ShortNSweet, Sean Mulligan, Saru I Am, Sherylyn, Snuffle muffle, Seyna, Silverchocolate, stargirl, Stupid girl, **Saphron,** Sarah the kitty kat, Steph, SpoiledGurl2687, Starheart, sLyThErIn*4*ever, SariMoon, SkyeLeah, Sirius B, Sara, Sky, Slytherin Angel, Sapphire Selia, Sk8reagle, Silver Wolf, Siri Dragon, **Toby Haine**, **teacherchez, The face of Evil, Tessa,** Tina borofry, **thebiggesthpfan**, The Firefaery, The Dragon, torvadea, Tlaka, Tinabedina, tory, the coffee fiend, Tomoyo Pota, The_Girl_Who_Lived, Trekgirl01, TaMaraR, 2Coolio, Tifanee Weasley, twinkle-toes, Teri, tina, teazer, Twink, unsigned, Usagie's Oven, veronik, verywildwitch, VWW, Vanilla, Viviane, Wish I was Wizard, **Waldomier,** Webba, **Wood's secret lover**, Whit2005, WolfEyes, writingfreak-14, White Raven, **X-Tow-Naga**, **xenocide,** Xixi105, Yibble Legnets, your fan, **zzxm,** Zenon Lee, zoidberg 

Hopefully I haven't forgotten anyone. If yes, then I apologise.

_"I never used to be able to finish anything,_

_but now I"_

_/Graffiti/_

    Chapter 39

**    Wedding – almost at Christmas**

_10th December, 2000_

The Great Hall of Hogwarts was decorated for a wedding again – this time for Minerva and Aberforth's wedding. Pink garlands of flowers were hanging from the ceiling and enchanting music was coming from somewhere. The hall was full of people – mostly Hogwarts students, but there were lots of guests as well.

"I can't believe that old McGonagall is getting married." Bill Weasley smiled at his wife.

"Yes, vairy funny." Fleur nodded, holding her one-and-a-half-year old daughter, Yvette in one hand and resting her other hand on Gabrielle's shoulder.

"I don't think it's funny." Hermione said. "It's rather… beautiful… that love can touch people at any age."

"Yeah…" Ron grinned. "You know what? I'd like to see Snape marrying professor Trelawney."

"Oh, poor professor Snape!" Hermione laughed.

"Poor professor Trelawney!" Ron countered.

"Well, I don't think we'll ever see Snape getting married." Bill shook his head. "Really, are the rumours true about Lupin's engagement?"

"Yeah. But I guess Harry or Sirius could tell you more about this." Hermione shrugged. "All I know is that professor Lupin turned out to have been in love with Professor Stella Sinistra since they were together at school. But then she got to know what he was and left him… Now that he's back to normal Stella confessed that she still loved him. He even changed a lot… he isn't that shy anymore. He's turned out to love socialising… he's there at all parties, he's laughing and joking… you can't recognise him, really. What a change! He really deserves to be so happy."

"Great… though pity that he and professor Sinistra won't have cute little werewolf cubs." Ron smirked.

"Ha-ha. What would you say if Viv and Val were werewolves?" Hermione furrowed her brow.

"Well… I'd let _you_ change their nappies at every full moon." he replied with a grin.

"Not that you are changing their nappies that often, Ronald Weasley." Hermione snapped.

"No. But I'm the one telling them bed-time stories." he pointed out.

"Like two three-months old babies understood what the stories were about." she said accusingly. Since giving birth to their twins – Viviane and Valentine (the latter named after the day she realised she was pregnant) – Hermione had constantly been complaining about Ron who wasn't spending enough time at home (at least not enough according to Hermione.) '_You rather go and watch Harry break his neck during those silly matches than to be here with your daughters_!' was her most frequent complaint. But even she had to admit that Ron loved Quidditch too much to miss a good match – especially when his best friend was playing Seeker for Puddlemere United.

"Great party, huh? Can't wait to see the bride!" Fred said as he, George and Angelina (holding her five months old son, Kevin) passed by.

"Yeah." Ron nodded. "How's Kevin, Angie?"

"Very well, thanks." Mrs. Fred Weasley replied with a huge smile. "With two such wonderful fathers he can only feel wonderful."

"Two fathers…" Hermione tutted as the twins and Angelina walked away. "I still don't understand why Angelina agreed on living with both of them!"

"She's not really living wiz both o' zem." Fleur replied. "She'z actually living wiz Fred. George only lives zere in zeir house."

"But that's the same!" Hermione retorted.

"Not the same." Bill said. "She only sleeps with her wedded husband."

"I believe it, but most people do not!" Hermione snapped. "Remember all those articles in _Witch Weekly_? Headlines saying '_Threesome_'? I first thought those articles had been written by Rita Skeeter, but of course they couldn't have been."

"Listen to me, Hermione." Ron took her by the hand. "Fred, George and Angelina do not care what the rest of the world says, and they're right. If they are happy this way, then let them be happy. Both Fred and George make cool fathers for Kevin."

"I still don't like this." she shook her head.

"You know what your problem is? You're prudish!" Ron said.

"Prudish? Me?" his wife gasped. "After all that I did to you in the b…?" she turned red and looked around to see whether anyone had overheard. Besides the keenly listening Bill and Fleur no one seemed to have heard anything. She let out a relieved sigh.

"Come on, Herm," Ron put an arm around her. "If you didn't condemn Harry for his little fling with that Russian chick, then you mustn't condemn the twins and Angie."

"But Harry wasn't faulty at all. He was only a victim of that woman."

"Really, iz zat true zat 'Arry slept wiz anuzzer?" Fleur asked. "I only 'eard things wizin ze family but I wasn't sure whezer zey were true."

"They were." Hermione sighed. "Bit it's over and we'd better forget it. For Harry and Ginny's sake." she cast a glance at Ginny who was standing a couple of feet away with Harry, Dennis and Mileta, talking animatedly. Ginny was in her eighth month but looked as though she had been at the end of the ninth – the three babies made her look like a whale, still – according to Harry – she was the prettiest woman in the world.

She was just asking Dennis about the summer holidays when Aaron had visited him.

"Aaaah, you won't believe it!" Dennis laughed. "When Aaron saw the first TV set, he asked how I had magicked all those little figures into that crate. It was particularly funny when one night he simply disappeared and next morning we found him sitting in our biggest refrigerator. He wanted to see whether it had been bewitched to stay so cold and he accidentally melted it down. All the food got spoiled. Once he almost got run over by a car and he started to shout at its driver that he should train his funny horse better. Then one cool, foggy morning we awoke to a terrible smell – he had seen us heat food in the microwave oven, and he decided to warm up his socks before pulling them on… and put them into the micro. You can imagine it – his socks got reduced to ash and we couldn't breath properly in the house for a whole day! Then came his adventure with the computer – Colin and I told him how to use it and stuff, and then we went to sleep. In the middle of the night we woke up to electric discharges… Aaron allegedly had wanted to turn that poor 'mouse' back into a real mouse but accidentally set the computer on fire! Luckily his wife arrived soon and with their combined power they restored our PC to its original form." Dennis finished his story. "One thing is sure: we aren't going to invite him for a while."

"Right." said a voice behind him. "Next summer Des and I are going to invite you and Colin to Azgard."

"Uh… Aaron… Desideria." Dennis turned around, blushing. "I wasn't… I didn't mean to…"

"It's okay, young Creevey, I admit that I made a couple of blunders…" the black-bearded man laughed. "Oh well, maybe not just a couple…"

"Attention, please!" Albus Dumbledore's voice spoke up. Suddenly everyone went silent in the hall. "Let… the wedding begin!"

The crowd parted to admit Aberforth Dumbledore, who was clad in deep blue robes (Minerva had beseeched him NOT to wear his usual Santa Claus-ish cloak) and had a navy blue pointed hat with sparkling little stars on it. His beard was very well groomed – Harry had never seen him this tidy before.

Aberforth stopped in front of his brother, who gave him a sour look then diverted his glance, stepping sideways to make room for the priest. Albus had refused to marry his brother and Minerva like he had married the three couples last Christmas. Harry put this down to the two brothers' hostility, though he still didn't know why they were so angry with each other. Angry was not the right expression for Albus when McGonagall asked him to let her and Aberforth marry at Hogwarts. Allegedly he was close to exploding with fury. How Minerva had eventually convinced him, Harry did not know. And it didn't even matter.

As the groom adjusted the edelweiss on his robes, the door of the Great Hall opened and the bridal march sounded from magical tone amplifiers. The groom turned around and his knees buckled.

There she was, standing in the door, wearing burgundy robes and an enchanting smile.

"Minnie!" he sighed.

McGonagall, holding a bouquet of edelweiss, slowly walked down the red carpet that led to the priest and her future husband. Little Lily Potter – now two and a half year old – was walking before the bride, dressed in a frilly pink dress that clashed terribly with her red hair. Ginny waved at the small girl who kept throwing petals on the carpet before the bride. 

"My daughter!" Harry said proudly.

"Uh, and another daughter or son of yours has just kicked me!" Ginny flinched, massaging her bulging belly.

"Oh, have they?" Harry put his hands on her stomach, gently caressing it. "Ssshhh, little ones, be quiet for a while or mummy will miss the best part of the wedding!"

And the best part was really beginning.

"Aberforth, do you want Minerva to be your wife, aid and company throughout your life?" asked the priest.

"I do." the groom beamed at the bride.

"And do you, Minerva, want Aberforth to be your husband, partner and aid all the days of your life?"

"Yes, I do." Minerva, the always strict and indifferent Minerva, allowed herself a smile.

"The best part – kissing!" George whispered to Fred, who started to snicker.

"And how they're doing it!" Ron gasped, seeing the new couple kiss. "Wow! Never thought this of old McGonagall!"

"Had you seen her on Valentine's Day when she got shot by an arrow…" Hermione giggled. "They were so good at kissing that they even won the prize of the kissing contest: a broom for two."

"I wish I had been there to see them!" Fred laughed. "Though I don't understand the headmaster." he pointed at Albus. "Why is he so bitter? His only brother and his deputy are getting married!"

"Maybe that's why he's so miffed." Harry interjected. "Since his deputy is marrying Aberforth, he's very likely to see his brother almost every day now."

"But… what's the problem with it?" Angelina raised an eyebrow, caressing little Kevin's back – the child had fallen asleep in her arms. "They are brothers… they love each other, don't they?"

"Not really." Harry shook his head. "They had had a row… and I still don't know why they had one!"

"Maybe they both wanted to be headmasters here and they were fighting over the job." Sirius guessed.

"Oh, nice to see you, godfather." Harry crossed his arms. "We haven't seen you for three weeks now."

"Well, you know…" Sirius blushed, "I was kind of… visiting… someone."

"Rosie?" Harry smirked.

"How did you know?" his godfather's eyes widened in surprise.

"I've been spying on you." Harry winked. "No, really… I just remembered our little chat of last November when you told me about the great love of your youth. So, getting along well with Madame Rosmerta?"

"Quite well." Sirius grinned. "I've just come from her. We were having dinner… but I decided to come over to Hogwarts and have dinner once more."

"Men." Ginny sighed. "Always thinking with their stomach."

* * * * *

After the wedding ceremony ended, everyone resumed dancing and eating – in Fred, George, Ron and Sirius' case drinking.

Suddenly a very excited Percy burst into the hall: "It's a boy!" he shouted with an enraptured expression.

"What?" the twins asked.

"I HAVE A SON!" Percy yelled. "I'm a father!"

"Urrgghh… that poor child… having _him_ for a father!" Ron whispered to Hermione, who only gave him a chastising look.

"And what's his name?" Harry asked.

Percy drew himself up. "Lancelot Percival Galahad Weasley."

"WHAT?" Fred spat out his champagne.

"Heavens, that poor kid!" Ginny gasped.

"Not that bad…" Harry grinned. "We'll call him Lance. That's cute."

"I just hope he takes after Penelope and not Bighead Boy." Ron added.  

* * * * *

"Another Weasley child, huh?" Draco Malfoy stepped to the Potters and Weasleys with a despising smirk. "You Weasleys seem to procreate as fast as rabbits." he glanced at Ginny's huge belly. "Triplets, I heard."

"Exactly." Harry pulled his wife to himself. "Maybe you should also find someone and start a family, Malfoy."

"That will be a sad day for the wizarding world when Malfoy starts a family." George commented.

Draco gave him a contemptuous look and left.

Seeing him leave, the up till now silent Gabrielle Delacour heaved a sigh: "Oh, what a man!"

"Man? This one?" Fred laughed. "I tell you, little one, you'd better have higher standards than to fall for a Malfoy. Not that he isn't an eligible bachelor…"

"Eligible?" Ginny raised an eyebrow. "I thought the Malfoys were not exactly rich anymore."

"Oh, they're not, but they'll be, soon." Fred replied. "They have an extremely rich uncle in France, so I heard. An _old _uncle… gonna kick the bucket soon and the Malfoys will inherit everything. Too bad." he cast a glance at Fleur's sister. "Listen to me, kid, forget this guy, even if he's going to be rich. He's not the one for you."

Gabrielle, however, didn't hear him. She was eyeing Draco with her hands on her heart, a dreamy expression on her face. "What a man!"

* * * * *

Aaron was feeling slightly sick, because he had tried all the different types of food he found. Eleven centuries ago sweets had been quite different and now he wanted to taste everything.

"Really!" his wife tutted, performing a charm on him that helped him in digestion. "Did you need to eat seven of those pumpkin pasties? And eight of the ice mice?"

Aaron shrugged. "They looked so inviting… Oh, look at them!" he pointed at Harry and Ginny who were kissing in a corner. "Aren't they cute?"

"Yeah." Desideria nodded.

"You look concerned." Aaron slipped an arm around her shoulder. "What happened?"

"I just… Harry's third wish… I fear it wasn't all right." she sighed. 

"What do you mean?" his husband asked.

"Well… I'm just not sure that it was a wise one..." she whispered.

* * * * *

Draco was bored. There was no one to talk to at this party – he had already regretted coming at all. Of course he couldn't turn down the invitation – Aberforth and Minerva had invited him and his father to say thanks for their help back at Azgard. 

Draco looked around – his father wasn't here. Lucius had promised to come, still he hadn't arrived yet. Draco shrugged, reaching out for a slice of cake. That was when he noticed that someone was watching him.

He turned to his left to see a cute, blonde girl of about fourteen years, in lacy peach-coloured dress, staring at him with her huge, deep-blue eyes.

"What are you looking at?" he asked.

"You." she replied with a sweet smile.

"Why?" he knitted his eyebrows.

"Becauze I was wondhering… are you an angel? A male angel, I mean?"

"Angel?" Draco spat out a bit of his cake.

"Yes… zey are vairy beautiful creathures and zey 'ave fair 'air just like yours." she shrugged.

"You're a funny little girl." he replied, munching his cake. "What's your name?"

"Gabrielle. Gabrielle Delacour." she smiled at him.

"I'm Draco Malfoy." he put down his plate. "And trust me, I'm as far from being an angel as Neville Longbottom is from ever getting a girl."

Gabrielle frowned, not understanding his sarcasm. "I'm going to marry you." she said suddenly.

Draco began to laugh – the first time he had laughed for months.

"I mean it." she insisted.

"I fear I cannot marry you." he replied, wiping away the tears of laughter. "You're just a little girl."

"I won't always be."

* * * * *

"Potter. A word." professor Snape stepped to them.

"I'll be back soon." Harry told Ginny and followed the Potions Master into a corner. "Yes, professor?"

"I just wanted to tell you, Potter, that I was quite amazed by your essay. Most convincing theory of why your birth-control potions didn't work. I was truly surprised when I received your owl with the essay. I never thought you'd ever write it after that memorable sex education class… I thought you had long forgotten it."

"I didn't forget it, professor." Harry shrugged. "Pity that I hadn't found out about this earlier… before my Potions N.E.W.T. I might have got a better mark for it."

"Not very likely, given your dislike for my subject, Potter." Snape said. "Hopefully your children will have more of a liking to Potion-making than you did. It's in their own interest if they are to put up with me."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "So it's so obvious for you that your students… well, not really like you?"

"My aim has never been to be popular, but to teach well." Snape folded his arms. "And that requirement, I believe, I have met. Haven't I?"

"I hate to admit it, professor, but you're a damn good teacher. Even if I never was a fan of yours." Harry smiled. "I'll try and prepare my children for the trials of studying Potions from you, and I'm sure they won't cause you as much trouble as I did."

"Hm, speaking of children…" Severus seemed contemplative, "I wanted to ask you something: how did your son become a wizard? And why did the parchment book register his name with the date 5th April?"

"Well, for the date thing… I guess 5th April was Daniel's birth in magic… that's why the book registered him that day. And how he became a wizard…" Harry looked away from Snape. "…that's quite a long story, professor. Let's say that it was the deepest and most desperate desire of my heart and it came true." he cast a side-ways glance at Remus Lupin who was dancing with his fiancée, Stella Sinistra. Back at Durmstrang he had made his friends and relatives promise that they'd never tell anyone about his second wish to the goldfish – especially not Lupin. Remus, being a werewolf, had always been very shy and – according to Sirius – he was really hard to make friends with. All those years he had spent as a werewolf, Lupin had felt inferior and had taken it as a downright insult if people wanted to help him. At first he had felt hurt by his three Marauder friends' compassion as well. Thus Harry didn't want him to know that he had been helped again. *I hope you'll never get to know who your _patronus _was, my friend.* he thought, seeing Remus twirl the giggling Sinistra.

"Ah, Harry!" Albus stepped to them. "At last we meet! I have heard so much about your adventures in Russia and I have so many questions!" 

Snape excused himself and left. Albus didn't mind at all – at least now he had the opportunity to ask the question he had wanted to ask for months: "What did it feel like to lose your magic powers?"

"It felt… like you went blind after having been able to see all your life..." Harry replied quietly, almost whispering.  "It felt like it'd feel for a bird if it suddenly lost the ability of flying…" 

"I see." Albus nodded. "It must a terrible memory for you… so I'm not forcing you to talk about it if you don't want to."

"It's okay, professor. It's over. Just a bad memory and I'm ready to talk about it some time if you want me to."

* * * * *

"You're coming with me!" Minerva took her new husband's hand.

"To your room?" Aberforth' face lit up.

"No." she shook her head. "To your brother. You two are going to reconcile."

"What?" the groom gasped. "No way!"

"Listen to me, Aberforth Dumbledore, if you're not willing to reconcile with your brother, you won't be seeing me in your bed tonight!"

Aberforth cringed. "That is some threat, my dear… all right." and he let her drag him to the headmaster, who was in conversation with Harry.

"Albus, we need to talk to you." Minerva said. "_Aberforth_ wants to talk to you."

"Then I'd better go, I guess…" Harry said, seeing the groom's jittery expression.

"No, Harry, stay, please." Albus replied. "Anything my brother has to say, he can say it in front of you. So, Aberforth, what exactly do you want to tell me?"

"Well… Albus… you know, my wife… seriously threatened me to come and talk to you… hehe, we've just got married and she's already being bossy with me… but I digress. All right…" Aberforth straightened himself. "I think this stupid hostility between us should be put to and end, Albus. Let's bury the hatchet, shall we?"

The Hogwarts headmaster looked at his brother's outstretched hand but didn't move. "_You _are offering me to reconcile? After what _you _did to me?"

Aberforth was starting to feel awkward. He cast a side-ways glance at his wife, clearly waiting for her help. She saw the despair on his face and turned to the headmaster. 

"Albus, I do not know what my husband has done to you, but I don't think it is so serious that you wouldn't be willing to reconcile."

"You have no idea what he did." Albus pointed at his brother. "No idea at all."

"Then tell me so that I know it." Minerva crossed her arms. 

Albus seemed to hesitate for a while then nodded. "Right, then. I tell you what your husband did to his own brother… one hundred and three years ago."

*One hundred and three years? Wow, professor Dumbledore must be quite vindictive if he hasn't been able to forgive his brother for more than a century!* Harry thought. *This must be interesting!*

"Well?" Minerva raised an eyebrow.

"Well… my brother played a trick on me." Albus replied.

"It was April Fools' Day!" Aberforth interjected. 

"He turned a goat into a woman." Albus carried on.

"I was just having fun!" Aberforth responded.

"He introduced that goat to me as an old acquaintance of his!" Albus snapped.

"I thought it was a cool joke…" Aberforth shrugged.

"…and I fell in love with that goat!" Albus growled, his moustache trembling with fury. 

Harry's eyes widened in surprise. "What? You… fell in love with the…?"

"Yes." Albus' voice faltered. "She was so charming… with her blonde hair, sky-blue eyes… and that sexy little red hat she was wearing… I… started to fancy her right on the first of April… and my brother must have had fun seeing me being smitten with her, because he… _forgot_ to turn her back into a goat!" the headmaster gave Aberforth a rather nasty look. "Amelia – that was the goat's name – quickly grew on me… one day in May I invited her to a picnic…" Harry looked at Aberforth, who seemed to be struggling with his facial muscles to remain indifferent, but didn't succeed. Not noticing his brother's grin, Albus carried on: "Amelia and I put a nice, checked blanket on the grass, pulled the sandwiches out of a basket, then I got the idea of picking flowers for her. I left for a couple of minutes…" he gulped. "When I returned, Amelia wasn't anywhere to be found… there was… a goat sitting on the blanket instead… wearing Amelia's red hat, bleating…" Harry saw the headmaster's hands clench into fists. "When I got to know that it was my brother's little joke, I felt like throttling him!"

"But you have to admit that it was a neat little charm!" Aberforth grinned. "She looked wonderful!"

Albus' eyes sent fire-bolts at his brother. Harry had never seen him this furious before. "Professor…?" he cut in before Albus could kill his brother. "This was, as you said, a hundred years ago…"

"Time doesn't matter, Harry." Albus grunted.

"But a heart-felt apology _does_ matter." Harry replied. "And Aberforth just wanted to apologise, didn't you, Aberforth?"

"Exactly, kid." the groom nodded, turning to his brother. "I admit that it was quite a bad joke and that I should have taken the charm off the goat right after April Fools' Day… but you know me, Albus… you know what a clown I am! I just couldn't resist the temptation to continue my little deception…" he heaved a deep sigh. "I'm sorry, Albus. Forgive me, please." he stretched out his hand again.

Albus grimaced, then slowly – very slowly – reached out and shook Aberforth's hand. "Bury the hatchet, brother… but promise me that you'll never – NEVER – play another trick on me!"

"I promise… that I'll _try_ and refrain from it, brother." the groom beamed. "And now… let's see that wedding cake, Minnie, my little kitten! Come, Harry, you don't want to miss it!"

Harry followed the new couple. When they were out of Albus's earshot, Aberforth turned to Harry: "Thanks for your help, kid."

"You're welcome. At least now I know the big story about the goat…"

"You don't know everything…" the groom leaned closer, "Albus has left out a little piece of the tale…"

"What?" Harry got really curious.

"That he… shhh, don't tell anyone…" Aberforth whispered into the young wizard's ear, so that his wife couldn't hear. "So…"

"Hey, Harry!" Neville waved from a long table that was laden with all kinds of sweets.

"Oh, hello, Neville." Harry waved back. "Will you excuse me, Aberforth?"

"Of course, kid." the groom smiled and led Minerva to the wedding cake.

Harry stepped to Neville. "How are you?"

"Very well, thanks." the other boy grinned, stuffing a chocolate mousse into his mouth.

"Haven't seen you since July, but I heard you've been winning all matches you played in."

"Yeah… my only loss was when we played against each other." Neville grinned. "That was some match!"

"Uh-huh…" Harry started to chew some kind of an éclair. "Wonderful match… Ginny was getting a bit jittery, you know, when it turned out to last more than a week."

"And what did she say when you returned home two weeks after the beginning of the match?"

"She said I looked like shit and I needed a week's sleep." Harry grinned. "Really… that was my first match that lasted two weeks! Oliver Wood still hasn't been able to recover fully… those Bludgers… poor Oliver. He has been trying to arrange that Puddlemere United would not play Wimbourne Wasps in the near future… It was really funny, you know… almost all the spectators had gone home by the time the match ended… with the exception of Ron, of course… and your parents."

"Yeah… I was so close to getting the Snitch for at least a hundred times but you always thwarted me." Neville commented.

"I thought _you_ thwarted me." Harry grinned. "You're one hell of a Seeker, Neville!"

"Ah, yeah…" Longbottom pouted. "That's why you finally got the Snitch…"

"Hey, it wasn't your fault… you just fell asleep." Harry replied. "I myself was barely being able to stay on my broom, I was so sleepy after two weeks of playing…"

"You can't imagine it, Harry…"

"What?"

"My grandma… when she got to know that I missed the Snitch because I fell asleep on my broomstick, she decided to force me to drink several cups of coffee before each match."

"At least you don't need to fear falling asleep." Harry shrugged. "And as I heard, you have caught the Snitch in a couple of minute's time at every match since then…"

"Of course I have…" Neville smirked. "When you drink so much coffee, you… need to pee. You know… the urge is always so terrible that you simply need to catch the Snitch as soon as possible…"

"Not a bad tactic." Harry laughed.

Neville fell silent for a minute, a dreamy expression on his face. "Nice wedding, huh?"

"Yeah, very nice."

"You know what, Harry?"

"What?"

"I'm… also getting married." young Longbottom turned red.

"Wow! Congrats, Neville!" Harry slapped him on the back. "Who's the fortunate one?"

"You don't know her." the other boy shrugged. "Her name is Mary Sue. She's the sister of one of my team-mates. She's Muggle. But I don't care. She loves me and that's enough."

"That's more than enough, Neville." Harry nodded. "I wish you all the happiness of the world."

"Thanks… Er, Harry, don't you think that Madame Maxime's got a bit… um, bigger?" Neville pointed at the half-giantess, who was dancing with Hagrid.

"Bigger…" Harry mused. "Round the middle, you mean?" 

Longbottom chuckled, accidentally knocking his plate with half a slice of cake off the table. Both boys bent down at once to pick it up and their heads clashed.

"Ouch!" Harry clutched at his forehead. Neville just laughed, glancing back at Olympe.

"Do you think she could be…?"

"Why not?" Harry grinned, still massaging his forehead. "It's time for them to have a child… their biological clocks are ticking aloud."

* * * * *

"…and where are you going for your honeymoon?" asked Hermione.

"Well… the reason why we wanted to have the wedding two weeks before Christmas, is that we wanted to spend the holidays and the honeymoon on the Christmas Islands… but only after we have visited Snow White." Minerva replied.

"Snow White?" Hermione laughed. "The yeti?"

"Exactly." Aberforth nodded. "I've been missing him. And, though she doesn't admit it, Minnie misses him too. After our trip to the Himalayas, we'll be off to the Christmas Islands. We are taking our two-person broomstick to go for local excursions. And I'm going to teach Minnie to swim."

"What? You don't know how to swim, professor?" Ron asked.

"No. But Aberforth will surely be able to teach me… he has taught me to skate, after all." McGonagall (who decided to stick to the name McGonagall even after getting married), replied. 

"Oh, so you can skate?" Hermione giggled, remembering Minerva's skating skills (or rather lack thereof) on the Durmstrang lake.

"I had a good teacher." the bride smiled. "Well, I guess it's time for me to throw my bouquet, isn't it?"

"Oh, yes!" Ginny nodded eagerly.

"Yeeees, old McGonagall throws her bouquet!" Peeves cackled, hanging from a garland of flowers. "I never thought this day would come! The old wench getting married!"

"_Fiscella_!" Aberforth pointed his wand at Peeves, who clutched at his mouth – he had a muzzle!

Everyone started to laugh at the poltergeist, who started madly tugging at the muzzle to come off – but it didn't.

"Thank you, dear." Minerva gave her husband a charming smile.

Albus silenced everyone by sending up red sparks. "Ladies and gentlemen – especially ladies – the bride is going to throw her bouquet. Remember: no _Accio_s now, no use of wands at all!"

McGonagall turned her back on the crowd, and flung her bouquet of edelweiss backwards.

"Got it!" Gabrielle Delacour squealed with glee and shot Draco a victorious glance.

* * * * *

Ginny watched Draco and didn't understand his sour expression when Gabrielle caught the bouquet. Her glance fell on Albus and Mrs. Figg who were waltzing in the middle of the dance floor. She had to grin: Harry had just told her about Aberforth and the goat. Poor Albus… how terrible for him!

By the way, where was Harry again? Ginny looked around, scanning the crowd. There he was, standing next to Aberforth, who was leaning close to him, clearly whispering something into his ear. That 'something' must have been rather amusing, because Harry burst into peals of laughter, doubling over, clutching at his side. Ginny decided to ask him about it later.

* * * * *

"Ooooh, Minnie, where exactly are we going?" asked Aberforth in a rather excited tone after they had left the Great Hall. "To your room?"

"No, dear." she shook her head. "I have a single bed, but the room we are going to has a double bed. A new bed shall be installed into my room soon, but until then we have to put up with this one."

"Oh, I can't wait, my kitten!" the new husband grinned and let her lead him down the corridors. When they turned right on a corner, Minerva stopped him and dragged him back.

"What?" he asked.

"Look!" she pointed at a figure leaving a room – the room they were about to visit.

"Lucius Malfoy?" Aberforth raised an eyebrow, watching Malfoy walk to the other end of the corridor and disappear on the corner.

"Yes." she nodded. "But what was he doing in that room?"

"What room?"

"The one we are going to visit." Minerva replied, leading him to the door. She opened it and they entered.

"Hm… nice little room." Aberforth looked around. "Is this the famous Hogwarts parchment book?"

"Yes." his wife nodded. "I wonder…" she stepped to the book. "Would you look at that!" she exclaimed.

"What?"

"That." she pointed at the book. There were two entries in it for today:

_Lancelot Percival Galahad Weasley, born 10th December 2000, parents: Percival and Penelope Weasley_

_Norbert Devilsmoor-Malfoy, born 10th December 2000, parents: Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy_

"The Malfoys have another child?" Minerva furrowed her brow. "I never knew Malfoy's wife was pregnant. But nothing is impossible… I haven't seen Narcissa for about half a year, after all." 

"But… what was Lucius doing down here?"

"I don't know…" she shrugged. "Maybe he was just afraid that his son would also be a squib and wanted to make sure that he wasn't. I heard from Arthur Weasley that Lucius had been bugging him about having a squib for a grandson all along their journey to Durmstrang."

Aberforth read the last note again. "Devilsmoor… What kind of name is that?"

"As far as I know it's Narcissa's maiden name. They might have agreed to give their second son both parents' names, so that the name Devilsmoor would not die out. I knew Narcissa's father… he was very proud of their family name and was quite disappointed when his wife only gave him a daughter, who didn't carry on his name."

"I see. So the Malfoys gave this double name to their son out of pride and respect for their ancestors." the groom nodded. "But you know what, Minnie? I'm not interested in it!" he pulled his wife into an embrace. "All I'm interested in right now is _you_!"

"Oh, really?" she giggled. "Then show me how interested you are!"

"As you wish, my lady." Aberforth grinned and kissed her firm on the lips.

* * * * *

 "All's well that ends well." Harry sighed, gathering his wife into his arms in Black Manor. It was already two in the morning – they had just come back from the party. "Aberforth and Minerva… Remus and Sinistra… Sirius and Rosmerta… Neville and Mary Sue… "

"I wonder who's going to be the next." Ginny giggled. 

"Hopefully not Snape." he replied, kissing the tip of her nose.

"Yeah… imagine his kids: crooked nose, greasy hair and an obsession for Potions." she laughed. "Really, what were you and Snape talking about?"

"About the reason why neither potions nor charms worked for us." he placed his right hand on her bulging belly. "And about Dannie becoming a wizard. He wanted to know why the parchment book had registered him on 5th April, and I told him that it was Dan's birth in magic."

"Yeah." Ginny nodded. As soon as they had come home from Durmstrang, their first way led to Hogwarts to check whether Daniel had been registered in the book. "It means he'll start the school a year later, right? As if he had been born in 2000, not 1999."

"Yeah, that's good – he'll start school with Hermione's twins, Angelina's son and… uh, Percy's son… hopefully little Lancelot won't be as irritating as his father."

Ginny slipped into her night-gown and pulled the covers over herself. Harry joined her in the bed, taking her into his arms. "I wonder," he said, "what McGonagall and Aberforth's marriage will be like. McGonagall can't be an easy person to live with."

"Still you've spent almost all your free time with her lately." she said accusingly. "And you never told me what you two were doing!"

"Nothing dangerous I can assure you." Harry laughed.

"What then?"

"She has been teaching me." Harry replied.

"Teaching?" Ginny raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"How to become an animagus."

"Huh?" she sat bolt upright with an incredulous expression on her face. "And have you… have you learnt it yet?"

"I guess so."

"What kind of animal can you turn into?" she asked excitedly. "Show me, show me, show me!"

"Er, all right." he replied. In the next instant there was a reindeer lying in the bed next to Ginny.

She jumped out of the bed with a scream then inspected the animal a bit more thoroughly. It had light grey fur, but under its antlers it had a tuft of hair that had a bit darker shade – it formed a lightning.

"Harry…" Ginny started the giggle. "Why haven't you chosen to become an owl? That would be a bit smaller…"

"You cannot choose what animal to turn into." he replied after having changed back. "Uh, I guess we'll have to clean the pillows of fur tomorrow…" he grinned. "You really can't choose. You turn into the animal that you feel the closest to... according to McGonagall."

"I wonder why McGonagall felt close to cats?" Ginny smiled.

"Dunno… but Aberforth seems to have developed an attitude of calling her 'my little kitten'." Harry grinned.

Ginny slipped back under the covers, snuggling herself into the crook of Harry's arm. He kissed the top of her head and grinned at the ceiling. He felt happy. Satisfied. As though nothing bad could happen… If he had now looked into the Mirror of Erised, he would probably have seen himself exactly the way he was, for he felt the happiest man on Earth.

Neville had been right: if there was love, then nothing else mattered. Not even the lack of magic… 

Love was magic itself.

Harry was just about to sink into a blissful dream when Ginny poked him.

"Harry?"

"Yes, dear?" he blinked, seeing the excited expression on her face. "Not the babies, is it?"

"No, they won't be coming for another month… at least I hope so." she smiled. "I just remembered seeing you with Aberforth, madly laughing at something he whispered to you. What was it?"

"Oh…" Harry started chuckling. "You remember what I told you about Albus and the goat?"

"Yeah, and?"

"Well, when Aberforth first told me about it he wanted to add something, but Neville cut in… so he told it later."

"What?" Ginny was really curious now.

"So…" Harry couldn't stop smirking. "So… Albus not only fell in love with the 'goat'."

"No?"

"No. He even slept with it."

THE END 

**A/N2:** no, not really the end, since you know that I'm working on the third part of the trilogy. I'm ready with 26 chapters, so I can promise you that you won't have to wait more than a month to get the third fic. It will take place eleven years after this one – it will be about the new Hogwarts generation (don't worry, you'll see a LOT of the old characters as well – Harry will still be one of the central figures because I love him and couldn't make him become a side-character.)

You might have noticed that I haven't tied up everything – I've left things deliberately unexplained. I'm going to get back to those in story #3.

I have hidden some little hints in this chapter that refer to/foreshadow things happening later. So, there were lots of things that seemed to happen just for fun or just to make the characters talk about something, but there's more to them than meets the eye.   

Before you ask, the Mary Sue pun was intended, and I didn't make Neville get married just for fun or just to form more and more couples – I have a good reason for it for the future plot.

The Latin word _Fiscella_ means muzzle.

You may wonder how Albus and Aberforth could have had a quarrel 103 years ago, but remember that Rowling interview in which she had told that Albus was about 150 years old in book one. In this story he is almost 160, thus he indeed could have had a quarrel with his brother 103 years ago. 

I know that Valentine in English is a boy's name, but in French it's a girl's name (at least it was in The count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas). I thought it was cute, that's why I gave that name to one of Ron and Hermione's twin daughters.

I wonder whether you have realised that the Draco/Gabrielle conversation originates from a book… I only re-wrote it because it perfectly fitted their situation. Can you guess which book that was? (if no, then I'll tell you the answer in the first A/N of story #3.) Just a clue: there's a film version of that book as well, but – to my greatest regret – this particular scene was left out of the movie.

If you want to receive a mail when I start uploading the third fic, drop your email-addresses in the review (those who have already done so don't need to, of course).

THANKS A LOT FOR READING!

Your author,

AgiVega

**P.S.** a request: I know that about the half of the readers of this story never cared to send me a review. Don't get me wrong, I'm not mad at them. I've seen in my stats that I'm on the favourites list of 149 people, but I know only about 80 of them – the other half never clicked 'submit review'. And it kept me wondering: why? 

I would like to know how many people are actually reading this, so, just this once, could all of you who are reading this (both signed and unsigned), drop me a line? I'm not asking much, am I? I only would like to have a clear picture of how many readers I have. It would be nice to know it. You don't need to sign in, just tell me that you exist, okay? Thank you.


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